Shadows And Light
by SilvaraWilde
Summary: Harry comes into an unexpected inheritance. Now he must learn how to control his new powers, find out who his friends really are, and try to not make too many mistakes along the is fic contains bad/evil Dumbledore, Molly and Ron. There will also be non-explicit slash, and multiple mates for Harry. You have been warned.
1. Chapter 1

Harry lay on his bed waiting for the clock to tick over to midnight. In 2 minutes, he would be 16 years old. So much had happened to him in his short life, he couldn't help but wonder what this year would bring. He still felt an ache every time he thought about Sirius, an emptiness that he tried to shove down and bury. But he couldn't help but wonder, who would be next? His parents were dead because of a mad man who had been after _him._ Cedric had died because of that same mad man. Sirius was dead, ultimately because that mad man had fooled him, but really, it all came down to him and Voldemort.

This year would be different. He refused to go on as he had been, totally unprepared. If the Prophecy was true, and it really was just down to him or Voldemort, then he was going to have to start taking this more seriously. He needed training! But Dumbledore didn't seem all that keen on giving him extra lessons, it was almost as though he _wanted_ Harry to be unskilled.

As his thoughts chased each other around in his brain, he failed to notice that the clock had finally ticked over. He barely had time to register that a glowing sphere surrounded him before his eyes rolled back in his head and he blacked out. This would be a mercy, he would decide later. Being unconscious, he wouldn't be aware of the pain that was sure to follow. As the light grew brighter, his body lifted and hovered above the bed, wind whipped around the room, and it seemed as though a great storm was happening. But all of it was happening in complete silence.

When it was finally over, Harry lay unconscious in the middle of his destroyed room. The only things untouched were the bed, Hedwig's cage, and a chair that was sitting in the far corner of the room. Had anyone been awake, they would have noticed that the chair was occupied, but as the room was dark, and no one _was_ awake, the occupant merely leaned back and crossed their ankles. Patiently waiting for Harry to finish sleeping off the magic storm that had hit the room. Morning would be greatly entertaining, and the only thing keeping the figure from pouncing and waking Harry up right now to start the fun, was the knowledge that nothing would wake him at this point. He had to wake up on his own. And that would be hours from now, quite possibly not until the sun was well up in the sky. With a little sigh of boredom, they settled back to watch over him.

AN:

First Harry Potter fic, first fic written in 8 years. I have no beta, so any out of characterness or other mistakes are all my own. At the moment, I have 5 mates plotted for Harry, this may change as the fic goes on. MPreg has not been decided upon, currently there is none. If enough people request it, I may work it in somewhere. But it won't be integral to the fic.

Chapters get longer after this one, I just needed to set things up and this worked out as a good place to end.


	2. What Am I?

Harry's first thought upon waking was that his body hurt, mostly his back. And he couldn't remember any reason why it might be hurting. His second thought never made it into being, as the moment he opened his eyes all his brain could come up with was _ahhh!_ He scrambled sideways and managed to fall over the far side of the bed in a tangle of limbs and sheets, while a musical giggle was heard in the background. The reason for this, was because as soon as his sleep-blurred eyes opened and focused, he realized he was staring into another pair of eyes, and a face was poised mere inches above his own.

He definitely had no memory of letting anyone into his room, but maybe they were sent by Dumbledore? As he tried to get free of his bedding, he realized something else. There were _wings_ growing out of his back! He didn't know which strange thing to deal with first, but decided that the stranger in his room was a little more important.

"I see you are finally awake. I was beginning to think you would sleep the morning away, and it is _so_ boring watching people sleep. At least as boring as watching grass grow."

Finally free of his bedding, Harry stood slowly and got a better view of his visitor. She looked to be in her early twenties, and was short, but still a little taller than he was. Pale silver-blonde hair fell to her waist, and she had green eyes. But the most striking feature was her wings. They were large and bat-like, in white and blue like the summer sky. The blotches on them gave them a marble effect.

"Uh... I'm sorry, I don't think I know you? And how did you make it up here without setting the Dursley's off?"

The girl laughed again, the sound reminding him a little of wind chimes. "Oh _them!_ I used a whisper of Air and they never knew I was here. And once I was, the wards on this room will keep them from remembering it, _or you,_ exist." She snaps her fingers and grins at him. "Easy!

So. I am Ash, and I am to be your Guide since I found you first. What is your name child?"

Harry's head reeled a little, this girl spoke quickly, and hadn't stopped moving since he laid eyes on her. It almost seemed like she physically could not stand still, and Guide? What did he need a Guide for?

"My name is Harry, Harry Potter. What do you mean you are my Guide? What is a Guide and why do I need one?"

"Why to your Demon inheritance of course! You're living in the mortal realm, otherwise you wouldn't need a Guide. You'd already know everything you need to know, but most Demons born to mortals don't know hardly anything at all. So that's where I come in. I felt your awakening, and since I got here first, that means I get to keep you until you know all about our kind, I get bored, or your mates decide to take over your teaching."

Ash was bouncing slightly on her toes by the time she finished her 'explanation', but Harry hardly noticed. _Demon inheritance?! I can't be a demon, I'm a wizard! And demons are evil, like Voldemort! I don't feel evil, she has to be wrong!_

Perhaps noticing Harry's disbelieving look, Ash made a flowing twist of her wrist and first two fingers, pointing them at the wall directly in front of Harry. The moment her hand stopped moving, the wall rippled and turned into a mirror. There, staring out at him was...himself. But the Harry in the mirror wasn't much like the Harry that had gone to bed the night before. He had grown, if only a little, and he guessed he was around 5'5". His skin was still tanned, but now it had almost red tinges to the tan. His hair was a little longer, reaching to the tops of his shoulders, and were those... _horns_ he saw peeking out of his hair?! His eyes were still the bright green that resembled his mother's, but they were also slit-pupiled like a cats, and he had small but sharply pointed claws on the ends of each finger. But by far the biggest change that he could now see, was the wings he had noticed earlier. The were large, and just as bat-like as Ash's, but his were the dark charcoal of smoke, with blood red blotches. There were no scales or fur or hair, just thin skin over bone.

"You're a Fire Demon of course. There are 6 types of demons you know, Storm, Shadow, Water, Air, Fire and Earth." As she said Air, she made a small almost-bow with her head and motioned to herself, so Harry could only guess that meant that Ash was an Air Demon.

This was still a little hard for him to process. Seeing was not always believing as he had learned since coming to the Wizarding World, but in this case, he was thinking he would have to belive that what he was seeing and hearing were indeed the truth. As he pulled his eyes away from the mirror, he finally registered the state of his room. Other than the bed, Hedwig's cage, and one chair in the far corner, nothing remained. Well, nothing that was recognizable at any rate. There were pieces of wood, none larger than the size of a pencil, ripped pages from books, shreds of Dudley's cast-off clothing, powder that might once have been broken nick-knacks or other assorted broken objects that were stored in 'his' room. In short, it looked like a tornado had hit the room while he slept.

"What happened to the room? The Dursley's are going to be so angry!"

"Oh that. It was the magics from your inheritance. And you don't need to worry about your guardians, that's my job now. We won't be staying here much longer, just waiting on you to catch up on a few things, and then we'll collect your stuff and head off to the Realm."

"Whoa wait a minute! What do you mean I'm not staying here any longer? I mean, it's not that I like it here or want to stay, but I can't just go off and leave for who knows where. I have friends here, and school, and we can't forget the insane wizard who wants to kill me."

Ash's cheerful and slightly scatter-brained demeanor changed the moment Harry mentioned someone wanting to kill him. _Now_ she looked the part of a demon. She stopped bouncing around the room and playing with random bits of debris, and somehow, with only a few inches between their heights, managed to tower over him menacingly.

"Someone wants to kill you? And you want to stay _here_ and let them try? Are you totally insane? Fire demons are supposed to be smarter than that! Get your stuff, we're leaving for the Realm right now. Any other explanations can wait until we get you to a wizard-free zone."

"Wait! He doesn't know where I live, Dumbledore said the blood wards keep Voldemort from finding me. And of course I don't want to let him try! But no one has bothered to teach me how to defeat him, they just pat me on the head and tell me that the grown-ups will worry about that, all the while ignoring the fact that a prophecy said I have to be the one to do it." Harry kicked a pile of wood in frustration as he thought of all the times he had gone to the various adults in his life and they had all brushed him off as being too young to be told anything useful.

"Blood wards? There are no blood wards on this house, the only wards of any kind were monitoring wards, keyed to you. I reattached them to the baby whale who lives here. It's not like they would have worked in the Realm in any event, but at least this way they aren't attached to you anymore."

"But my mother's sacrifice, she died to save me. Dumbledore said it was the reason Voldemort couldn't touch me, and that since she had let him kill her, I had to live here since the wards would only work if I lived with my mother's sister who shared my blood. They're supposed to keep the Death Eaters and Voldemort from finding me!"

"Sorry kid, there were no such things on the house when I got here. Are you sure this Dumbledore person can be trusted? Would he gain anything from lying to you?"

"I...don't know. He's the leader of the Light, he has to be trustworthy, I mean, everyone looks up to him and he defeated the last Dark Lord..."

"Just because someone _seems_ good and Light, doesn't mean they _are_ good or Light. Look at us. We're demons. But that doesn't make us evil or Dark! Some of us are of course, but there are also many neutrals and Light demons. Haven't you learned yet that just because it looks pretty doesn't mean it's safe? And just because it looks scary or evil, doesn't mean that it _is?_"

Harry sank down on the edge of his bed, head once more reeling. It made so much sense when you looked at it this way. And yet... it was so hard to believe. He didn't have anywhere near the amount of information he needed, about Dumbledore _or_ Demons. Either way, could he really go off and leave his friends behind? They'd stood by him through so much already, it seemed like he would be throwing everything back in their faces if he just ran off without a word. And he'd need money wherever it was they were going, wouldn't he? Maybe he should try to talk Ash into taking him to Gringotts, and letting him write a few letters so his friends wouldn't think he'd been kidnapped by Voldemort.

"Ash... What is the Realm? And before we go there, I need to do a few things."

"The Realm is like this world, but not. It's where most of the demons, Fae, Djinns, Incubus, Succubus, and many other creatures live. We chose to leave the Mortal Realm when humans and wizard kind started hunting and persecuting us. There are a few wizards living there, but they are few and far between. Mostly it is a world for what wizards would term, Dark Creatures to live without fear of being hunted to extinction. You will love it there, I promise! There are so many of our kind, and so many things to do!"

"Alright. I suppose a short visit won't be too bad, but I can't stay there. I have friends here, and things I have to do in _this_ realm Ash. And still, there are things I need to do before we go there. The first one is to stop by Gringotts."


	3. Gringotts

When Harry crawled under his bed to get his cloak, and a few other prized things from under the loose floorboard, the first thing he saw was his glasses. He stopped moving for a moment and just blinked, then reached up to touch his face to be sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him after all the revelations of the morning. But no, he really hadn't been wearing his glasses this whole time, and yet he could see perfectly clearly. Deciding he just wasn't going to worry about it, he added them to the small pile of his belongings and crawled back out from under the bed.

"My trunk is downstairs in the cupboard under the stairs. Once we get it, we can go to Gringotts. But can you shrink it for me? I'm not allowed to do magic outside of school."

"Easily, but why are your things downstairs? Shouldn't you keep them in your room? Though considering what happened last night, I will admit that it was just as well they weren't here. Is that why your trunk is down there?"

Not wanting to get into his life with the Dursley's, at all ever, and especially not when his life had literally been turned on end, Harry just shrugged a little. "Yeah, something like that."

"Well, we could do this the normal way and walk...but it will be much more fun to travel by way of Air. And that way, you'll get a small taste of what it will be like to go as far as Gringotts. So come here Harry, this won't be quite like anything you've experienced before and you'll travel easier if you're close."

As Harry approached Ash, he was a little worried. After all, he had never quite gotten the hang of Floo travel, and he absolutely hated Portkeys after his experiences in the graveyard. Side-along apparition was not what he would call fun either. So he could hardly help but be nervous about Ash's comment about it being 'fun'. Especially considering that Ash's definition of 'fun' wasn't what he would consider fun for most normal people.

The moment he was close enough, Ash reached out one hand and pulled him closer, so close his small bundle of mementos were pressed between their bodies. And then she brought her wings forward and folded them around him like he was in a cocoon. It made him feel surprisingly safe. As though no harm would come to him as long as he was with her. Was this part of being a Guide? Or was it because they were both Demons? Harry didn't know, and wasn't really sure he cared as long as the feeling was a true one. In the next instant after that thought, he felt Ash bounce a little on her toes, and raise her right arm above their heads. With a snap of her fingers, a great wind blew up around them as though they were in the eye of a storm, and in the next second, they were suddenly standing downstairs right in front of the door of the cupboard under the stairs. The wind died away and Harry was surprised at how _easy_ travel by Air was compared to any of the Wizarding ways of travel.

Shaking his head, he stepped back away from Ash and opened the door to pull out his trunk. The house was silent and he wondered briefly where the Dursley's had gone, but it didn't really matter as long as they weren't there to bother him or show Ash that he wasn't treated well here. Once his trunk was out of the cupboard, and the items from under the floorboard were added to it, Ash rapped the top of it with one knuckle and it shrank down to the size of a deck of cards. Harry pocketed it and then resumed his position for their trip to Gringotts. Traveling by Air was something he felt he could easily get used to!

This time when the wind storm died away, Harry saw a white marble room with no windows. It was on the small side, and didn't look like anywhere he had seen so far in Gringotts.

"Ash... I thought we were going to Gringotts next?"

"We _are_ at Gringotts Harry. This is one of the receiving rooms for non-Wizards, the goblins will have been alerted to our arrival and someone should be here soon to take us to... wherever it is that you wanted to go here."

Ash released him and stepped back with a shrug. Truth be told, she was starting to get a little bored already and they hadn't even done all that much so far. It was most likely all the hours she had spent waiting for Harry to wake up, but that still didn't bode well for the immediate future as she was likely to find her own entertainment soon. Shortly after Ash finished speaking, the lone door in the room opened and a goblin walked in. He took one look at Ash and Harry and his eyebrows rose.

"We don't usually get your kind here, what business brings you to the Wizarding Gringotts instead of the one in the Realm?"

"There's a Gringotts in the Realm?" Harry's jaw dropped in surprise, maybe it wouldn't be such a hassle dealing with money in the Realm then. If of course, he was able to use his current Vault there as well as here.

"Well of course there's a Gringotts in the Realm! Who else has enough experience to do it?" The goblin crossed his arms and somehow managed to appear to look down his nose while actually looking up at Harry. "Now what do you want?"

Reading rightly that he was very close to offending the goblin, if he hadn't managed to do so already, Harry dropped his eyes and tried to get his mind back on track. Ash was examining her claws and not about to get into the middle of things.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't do the job or anything. I just came into my inheritance last night and as Ash keeps pointing out, I don't know anything much about Demons or the Realm or any of that yet. I wanted to check on my account, see how much money I have, and make a withdrawal. But if there is a branch of Gringotts in the Realm, is there a way to link my vault here with one in the Realm so I can use it in either place?"

"Who is your account manager?"

"I don't know sir. The few times I've been here, I just went up to one of the tellers and presented my key. Then they sent me down with someone in a cart, it never seemed to be the same goblins, and I didn't know my account _had_ a manager..."

"Name?"

"Harry Potter."

That seemed to surprise the goblin once again, he just nodded and turned around heading for the door. "Follow me." Harry and Ash followed the goblin through a few twisting corridors until they finally came to a stop at a heavy-looking bronze door with a silver plaque that had Ragnok stamped into it. Knocking twice on the door, the goblin then opened it and waved them through, before leaving them alone with the goblin in the room.

"Yes? What is it? I am not in charge of any Demon accounts." The goblin who spoke was sitting behind a large, heavy looking desk made out of some rich dark wood that had been polished to a warm sheen. It was obviously old and had been in use by many goblins over the years. The goblin himself looked older, with greying hair and more wrinkles than most of the goblins Harry had yet seen. But his eyes were still sharp, and his hands never wavered as he put the quill he had been using back into the pot of ink in front of him.

"Excuse me sir. My name is Harry Potter, and the goblin who led us here asked who my account manager was. I didn't know I had an account manager, but when I told him my name he brought us here."

"Harry Potter is a wizard, not a Demon."

"I came into my inheritance last night sir, and woke up this way. I'm sure you have ways of proving I am who I say I am."

Ragnok considered Harry for a moment, then opened one of his desk drawers and sorted through the parchment it contained. Pulling out one sheet, he put it down in the middle of the desk and added a very sharp looking dagger.

"Three drops of blood on the parchment, and we shall see if you are indeed who you say."

A flash of Wormtail and the dagger in the graveyard flickered across Harry's mind, but he shoved it back and carefully picked up the dagger. It was heavier than it looked, but beautifully made. Carefully cutting the pad of one finger, he allowed three drops to fall on the parchment before putting the dagger back on the desk and taking a single step back. Ragnok cleaned the dagger with a handkerchief, and waited as the parchment glowed briefly and writing started to appear. Once it stopped, Harry was just able to see that it had his full name, and Demon status before Ragnok picked it up and hmmm'd as he read it, then put it back in the desk drawer.

"All right Mr. Potter. What can I help you with today?"

"I wanted to know if it was possible to make my vault accessible both here and in the Realm. As well as find out exactly how much is in my vault as I've never received any statements."

"We can give you a card that will allow you to draw on your account from anywhere, including muggle areas. But what do you mean you've never received your statements? We have sent them to you every month since you turned 11 and started accessing your accounts."

"I never got any statements. And what do you mean accounts? I only have the one vault that I've been using to buy my school supplies with."

Ragnok scowled, which looked particularly fearsome on goblin features. "You have your trust vault which was set up by your parents and is the one you've been accessing for your school supplies. It also automatically pays your tuition to Hogwarts every year. You also have the main Potter vault which has most of your parents money and heirlooms, as well as two vaults that were bequeathed to you by your godfather Sirius Black. They contain the Black fortune and heirlooms as well as anything else of value the Blacks decided to leave in the vaults instead of in their homes. You should have been getting statements every month telling you not only how much money you have, but what investments you have and all transactions going into or out of those accounts."

As Ragnok spoke, Harry's temper was flaring. He had _four_ vaults? And no one had bothered to tell him that he had more than just the one, not to mention that he had never gotten a statement about them in his life. Just thinking about being able to go through the main Potter Vault and see what his parents had thought important enough to keep in there... he had so little that belonged to them, and all this time there was an entire _vault_ of things his parents and other relatives had owned! There could even be a portrait of them in there. He might actually be able to talk to his parents, get to know them a little. At this last thought, the torches in the room flared higher with a muted roar, looking like nothing so much as miniature volcanoes of flame on the walls.

"Harry! Control it, do not let it control you. Calm yourself child, we will find out what has been going on I promise you. But right now you must get a hold of your Fire before it does any harm!" Ash grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to he could see what he was doing to the torches. The sight shocked him enough that his temper died down momentarily and the torches gave one last fiery roar before settling back down to normal size and strength. Unfortunately, there were now black scorch marks on the white marble walls from his loss of control.

"Mr. Potter, I understand your anger. I do not know why you have not been getting your statements, or why you were not informed about your vaults, but I assure you I will get to the bottom of this matter. Do I have your permission to freeze your accounts while I look into this? They will still be accessible using this card," here Ragnok held out a flat metal card that looked remarkably like a muggle credit card that he must have gotten while Harry was lost in temper. "but no one else will be able to access your accounts until you choose to unfreeze them. Money can still be deposited, but nothing can be taken out unless by this card."

Ash still had one arm wrapped around his shoulders, and had brought her wings up partially around him as well trying to keep Harry grounded for the rest of the conversation. So he was able to take a deep breath and nod to Ragnok without a repeat of the loss of control.

"Yes please sir. Is there a way to forward my mail to the Realm? Ash wishes to take me there today and start my Demon training, but I don't want to lose contact with my friends or miss any more notices about my accounts."

"That is easily done Mr. Potter. We can have your mail routed to Gringotts and checked for anything malicious before having it sent to our branch in the Realm. Once there, someone will notify you and you can come pick it up. You can also send letters the same way, just take them to the Gringotts in the Realm and tell them you need them sent to this branch and once they're here, we will make sure to send them out for you."

"Thank you sir. That would be wonderful. Can I send a few letters today? There are a few people who need to know I'll be out of touch for a while."

"Of course Mr. Potter. Just address the outside to the recipient, and I will make sure they go out immediately." Ragnok passed Harry parchment, a quill, and the bottle of ink and waited while Harry wrote out three quick notes.

One to the twins telling them that he might be out of touch for a while, but messages could get to him via Gringotts. And to send Hedwig to Hermione so she had a way of getting a hold of people if she needed to. He had sent Hedwig off to the twins last night with a note, and as she hadn't returned yet, he was hoping they still had her. He didn't know if it was safe to take her to the Realm and wanted to be sure she was somewhere she'd be safe. One note went to Ron letting him know he was safe, but would be out of touch for a little while and not to worry. And the last went to Hermione, saying the same thing as Ron's but with an additional note asking her to keep Hedwig for him until he returned. Then he addressed them and handed them over to Ragnok.

"Thank you very much sir for all your help."

"Not at all Mr. Potter. I will get in touch the moment I learn anything about what has been going on with your accounts."

Ash stepped up behind Harry, and before he could say another word, she had enveloped him with her wings and snapped her fingers calling up Air to travel to the Realm.


	4. The Realm

Any objection to Ash's high-handedness flew from Harry's mind the moment he got his first look at the Realm. It literally stunned him. Not because it was beautiful, or so different from his own world, though it was both of these things. But because of the sheer amount of _people._ His mind couldn't seem to process what he was seeing fast enough before something or some_one_ new caught his eye. There were what he could only assume were Demons, since they had the same marble-affect wings as Ash and he did. But there were other creatures he had no name for, or any idea of what they could possibly _be._ A very tall man with black skin and red eyes strode down the street, and everyone who saw him immediately gave him a wide berth. A girl with neon green hair and...well, he guessed that was supposed to be a dress, but there was so little to it he blushed to the roots of his hair and quickly turned away. Two stocky men walked by with solid grey wings. A young boy darted through the crowd, his eyes and hair both the color of a sunset sky.

Turning his gaze to the buildings didn't help much either. They seemed to have no rhyme or reason as far as the architecture went. They were mostly made out of many different kinds and colors of stone, most with graceful curves, though quite a few had carvings and other embellishments. Some were tall, some short, one or two had turrets like in a fairy tale. Impossibly thin spires that could only have been built and kept in place by magic. As he looked back at Ash, he saw she was laughing at him! One hand clutched around her tummy and the other trying to cover the giggles that were falling from her mouth. He immediately scowled at her, wings snapping up and out without any thought on his part. She had done this on purpose, not given him any word of warning and now she was laughing at him?!

"I'm s-sorry Harry! But you should have seen the look on your _face!_" She took a deep breath and seemed to pull herself back together. "This as you can tell, is the Realm. It's my home, and will be yours at least until you get better control of your powers, and start finding your mate or mates. Most prefer to live here, though there are a few that like the mortal realm."

Wait, mate? Harry didn't remember hearing Ash talk about _this_ before.

"What do you mean mate? I'm only 16, I don't think I'm ready for anything like that!"

"All Demons have mates Harry, but we're not like Veela or some other races. We choose our own, and tend to have anywhere from one to twenty or thirty. It depends on the Demon. We also don't have set submissive and dominant partners, usually that's decided by each Demon for themselves. You might end up with all dominant mates, all submissives, or some mix of both. But that can wait. Demons are immortal, so you can decide to settle down whenever. I myself haven't found anyone yet who could keep my interest for more than a week or so."

As if his life hadn't been turned upside down enough already, now he was going to have to add a mate or mates to the list of weird things happening to him. Harry just shook his head silently, he wasn't going to deal with that right now. Before he had time to worry about the comment about being immortal, Ash started speaking again.

"You can tell what type of Demon you're looking at by the color of their wings. Air Demons have some shade of blue as the dominant color, with white. Fire are a charcoal base with red. Water are shades of blue and green. Earth are brown with gold. Storm are black and white, Shadow are black and purple. But there are also Djinn, Fae, Succubi, Incubi, Goblins, and Gargoyles who live here. As well as a few other species, but mostly those stick to themselves. Djinn are all tall, and have varying skin colors with no wings. You don't want to piss them off, they get more powerful the older they are and looks can be deceiving. Remember, most of us are immortal. Not every race is, but if you go by that rule of thumb you will have less chances of offending anyone."

Trying desperately to memorize all the information Ash was suddenly deciding to give him, Harry wondered about the other people he had already seen who didn't fit into the current descriptions.

"What about the ones with solid grey wings? And the ones with bright colored hair and no wings? What are they?"

"Solid grey are usually the Gargoyles. They're the best stone-shapers in the Realm, most of the buildings were designed by them. Bright colored hair belong to two different races. The Fae usually have eyes that match their hair, and they _always_ look younger than they are. Succubi and Incubi are easy to pick out as they wear very little, and will most likely end up propositioning you at some point if they get the chance." She laughed as Harry blushed again. "We should probably move out of the way of traffic a little if you have more questions before we start moving on."

Ash turned and started heading towards a low wall, just the right height to sit on. As Harry started to follow her, he ran into something quite solid, almost falling back onto his butt on the ground but a strong hand shot out and grabbed him by the arm steadying him. He looked up to apologize but the words died unspoken. Three Demons stood in front of him, the center most one had dark purple hair done in intricate braids on each side of his head. A quick glance told Harry that this was a Shadow Demon. The brunette on his right was an Earth Demon, and the one on the left with long black hair, was a Storm Demon. All three of them had the intricate braids on the sides of their heads. He wondered if it meant anything, or if they just liked the style. It was then that he realized he hadn't said a word and was just staring!

"I-I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going closely enough. I-"

"Easy little one, no harm done. Are you wandering about by yourself?" The Shadow Demon released Harry's arm now that his feet were steady beneath him again. Harry's wings had flattened down on his back and he had hunched in a little on himself without conscious thought, expecting to be yelled at or worse. But the other man's voice was kind, if a little more gravely than he had expected. The Earth and Storm Demons were studying him curiously, but didn't look like they were planning on speaking.

"No. I was following my Guide but got a little distracted. I only just arrived in the Realm." Harry's posture straightened up a bit now that it seemed like he wouldn't be in trouble after all. That was certainly the last thing he needed, to make enemies in the first moments after entering the Realm!

"You're looming again Gideon, poor thing's going to get a crick in his neck from having to look up at you." The Earth Demon elbowed the Shadow Demon - Gideon? - and then looked back down at Harry. "I'm Herne, that's Gideon, and the silent fellow is Laric. What's your name? And where is your Guide?"

All three Demons were quite tall it was true, at least six feet if not taller, and it did help Harry's neck a bit when Gideon took a step back, even if Gideon _was_ shooting Herne a dirty look in the process.

"I'm Harry. Ash was heading over towards the wall over there..." As he pointed in the direction, the crowd parted a little and they could see Ash seated on the wall and grinning in their direction. When she realized they were looking at her, she raised an arm and waved energetically at all four of them.

"Air Guiding Fire? Sounds like you're going to be in for a fun ride Harry. Air tend to be a little on the flighty side and are fairly easy to distract." Gideon seemed to be amused by the thought, but the one who hadn't spoken yet - Laric? - suddenly reached out and touched Gideon on the shoulder. His voice was low and soft, but rich as though he might spend time singing.

"Gid, we're going to be late for the match if we don't leave soon."

"Damn! All right, let's walk Harry back to his Guide and then we'll be on our way. It was a pleasure meeting you Harry." As he spoke, Gideon laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and steered him expertly through the crowd. They were out and standing in front of Ash faster than Harry had thought possible.

"Keep a better eye on him milady, it's too easy to be overwhelmed on the first view of the Realm." And with that, the three Demons slid back into the crowd and were quickly gone from sight.

"Well! Courting already Harry? And three Warriors? You do move fast!" Ash snickered and hopped down from the wall before Harry could do more than splutter indignantly. "That's what those braids they were wearing mean, by the way. All Warriors wear their hair that way, keeps it from getting in their eyes, and keeps it out of the hands of their enemies. Come on, there's somewhere I want to show you, it'll be fun!"

She grabbed Harry by the hand and started dragging him off down the street. Harry could only wonder what context 'fun' would take this time. She finally stopped in front of a two-story building. It was fairly plain outside compared to some of the ones he had glimpsed so far. The inside however was anything but plain. Thick carpet was everywhere underfoot, and tapestries hung from the walls. Sculptures were scattered around the wide-open space and tucked into nooks in the walls. Harry quickly stopped looking at them once he realized they were all depicting various sexual acts, and with varying genders and numbers of people!

He was getting a sinking feeling about where Ash had brought him, and he really hoped he was wrong, but couldn't figure out what _else_ this place would be used for. And then they were finally all the way inside and there were men and women on couches, as well as wandering around in pairs and groups. And most of them had very very little in the way of clothing on. Harry knew he was red as a beet and didn't know where to look, he finally decided to stare at the floor as that seemed safest for the moment. Ash finally stopped in front of another woman, blessedly clothed, and started up a quickly spoken conversation with her. Harry wasn't really listening, but caught things like "new student", "first time in the Realm", and "introduce you".

"Ash! You dragged him in here without any warning didn't you? Honestly I don't know what to do with you sometimes. The poor boy is going to run off screaming any minute now."

"But Pepper, I wanted you to meet him!" Ash was very nearly whining, and that wasn't something he had heard her do before. It made Harry actually raise his eyes and look at the two. Ash was talking to a woman with pale blue hair and grey eyes, no wings in sight. He frowned thoughtfully trying to figure out what she might be. Not a Demon or Gargoyle, and her eyes didn't match so most likely not Fae...

"Harry is it? I'm Pepper, Ash is a good friend of mine, though sometimes I want to smack her. I'm sure you've gotten that urge a time or two as well."

The woman laughed and it was rich and velvety, it shot straight through Harry and made him blush again. _Ah... Succubus then...that would make sense here..._

"Nice to meet you Pepper."

"As long as you're here, you should meet my new boy. I just bought him about an hour ago and I must say, he's quite the pretty one. Fionn! Front and center please."

A shape slid out from behind the pillar he had been hiding behind, coming to stand directly in front of Pepper with his head bowed and eyes on the floor. He _was_ quite pretty. White-blonde hair that fell to just above the tops of his shoulders, a section swept across his forehead to fall into his right eye and shadow it. His eyes were golden, body willowy like a dancers, and he had a golden and black butterfly tattooed on his left shoulder blade. His skin was a warm sun-kissed golden as well, all over from what Harry could see, considering Fionn wasn't wearing more than a _very_ small pair of shorts and a collar around his neck. Something twisted inside him as he looked at the other male, he wasn't sure what it was, but it felt _wrong_ to see the Fae standing there like that.

"Oh he's pretty! Where ever did you find him?" Ash was circling Fionn and looking quite impressed.

"A Djinn actually walked in here with him, said he had been training him but had grown bored and decided to sell him instead. Supposedly he is untouched, but even if that isn't true, he's gorgeous enough to more than make back what I paid for him."

Harry felt his temper flaring, how could they talk about Fionn like he wasn't even standing there? Was slavery such a normal thing in the Realm? Fionn had yet to speak a word, or even raise his eyes up from the floor. He just stood there as though he had totally given up, and it made Harry want to rage and destroy something. He supposed it was his "saving people thing" as his friends had always called it, but he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. And it wasn't like he didn't seem to have heaps of money, Sirius alone had been horribly rich, not including whatever his parent's had left him...

"Pepper. I'll give you twice what you paid if you sell him to me."

Dead silence greeted his words, and he glanced over at them to see both Ash and Pepper just staring at him in shock. He raised his chin stubbornly, he might not be able to save every slave in the Realm, but _this_ one was right here, and he could help him, he just knew he could.

"I'm not sure that's so good an idea Harry, I mean I was joking earlier when I said you could start collecting mates and all. You haven't gotten any training yet, you don't even know how things work in the Realm yet and-"

"I don't care." He held out his Gringotts card to Pepper. "The Goblins said it would work here as well as in the mortal realm. I can afford it, and I want to buy him."

Pepper darted a look towards Ash and then shrugged, taking the card. "If you insist. On your head be it." She walked over to the wall a few feet from where they had been standing and slid the card into a small slit in the wall. A screen flashed into being and she entered a few things before a beep was heard and the card popped back out. Returning the card to Harry she made a shooing motion at them all.

"All yours. Have fun. I'm going to have to go explain to a few people why they need to request someone else now though, so run along before someone notices and tries to intercept you."

Harry slowly reached out and touched Fionn on the arm, Fionn promptly flinched and hunched in on himself a little. Harry's eyes hardened slightly and he promised himself that he would fix this. His life with the Dursley's hadn't been what he would call 'fun', even by Ash's standards, but they had never actually beaten him. That didn't look like it was the case for Fionn, who still hadn't spoken a word, or even seemed like he was aware of what was happening. First things first, he decided, that collar had to come off. It appeared to be made of solid metal with no catches he could see, and Pepper hadn't given them a key before leaving. He didn't even think about it, just raised his hands and set one on either side of the collar. Almost instantly the collar started to melt and soon it was falling off, all without burning Fionn or Harry. He was a little surprised, but decided to just go with it for now.

"Ash, can you take us somewhere we can get him some real clothes? I don't want to walk under the circumstances."


	5. Broken

The moment they arrived, and Ash released them, Fionn dropped to his knees. His head remained bowed down, hands resting on his knees. It was eerie how silent he was, he hadn't made a single sound since the moment he answered Pepper's call. Harry took a moment to look at the room, it didn't look like any kind of clothing store he had heard of before. But nothing he had seen so far in the Realm really matched up to the Wizarding or Muggle counterpart, so that didn't really mean much.

They seemed to have arrived in the front hall of what he would have thought was someone's home. The walls were a very pale blue, with white designs just barely visible painted on them. The floor was polished wood, and there was a mirror on one wall with a small table beneath it. Two archways led off into the rest of the building.

"Ash? Where are we? This doesn't look much like a clothing store..."

"This is my home Harry, and yours as well until you decide to get your own house. Considering how much you've already been through today, and the state of your new pet, I thought it might be a better idea to come here and get some rest first. You don't know how he's going to react to being taken out in public, _or_ how to treat him."

"He's not a pet! He's a person Ash. Just because someone is a slave doesn't make them lesser than anyone else." Harry glared angrily at her, wings half-raised in his anger, but he tried to keep hold of his temper. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened at Gringotts, or anything worse.

Ash raised a hand in a placating gesture and shook her head. "I don't think they're lesser creatures Harry. And they're not slaves exactly. More like indentured servants. They all get freed someday, it just depends on the price they were originally sold for and how long it takes them to work it off. No one is born indentured, every single one of them either sell themselves into it, or someone in their family does it to them. I'm not saying that makes it much better, or that I approve, but that's how it's always been. Those who can't afford to feed themselves or their families, or those who have no skills to get better jobs and can't afford to pay for training, go this route. The families get a lump sum for them, and once the indentured person pays it all back, they can either stay with the one who bought them, or they are free to go their own way. That said, I've never seen one act the way Fionn does. This isn't normal, and _that_ is why I objected to you buying him. There's something seriously wrong here, and you have enough to deal with already. But what is done is done."

Harry frowned, so slavery wasn't exactly the case. It was still wrong to him, no one should be sold and forced to do another's will. He glanced down at Fionn and saw that the Fae hadn't moved at all from what he could tell. He was still kneeling on the floor in the same position he had assumed upon arrival. But Harry could see goosebumps on his skin and a very faint shiver. After all, Fionn wasn't wearing more than those tiny shorts, so it wasn't surprising that he was cold. He shook his head, explanations could wait, right now he needed to get food, clothes, and a bed for Fionn, not necessarily in that order.

"He's not much taller than I am, some of my things may fit him well enough for now. He certainly can't stay wearing only those."

"We can put him in the room next to yours if you wish, or he can stay with you. It doesn't matter to me either way. The bedrooms are this way."

Ash headed through the archway directly in front of them and down the hallway. Harry took two steps to follow her and then stopped, turning back to get Fionn he saw that the Fae had stood and was following him. Though he was still keeping his head bowed and his eyes trained on the floor. Holding back a sigh, he turned and continued to follow Ash.

"This is your room Harry, Fionn can have the door on the right, and my room is at the end of the hall. I'll go see what I can make for dinner, and bring it back to you. But only tonight! There's a dining room we'll use for the rest of the time you're here." She laughed and headed off again, leaving Harry to get Fionn settled.

He decided to go into his room first and unshrink his trunk so he could find some clothes for the Fae to wear. Opening the door, he barely glanced around, but still noticed a large raised bed in the corner near a bay window, a dresser and wardrobe opposite, and a desk with bookshelves on the third wall that didn't have the door. There was another door near the desk that he assumed led into a bathroom. He set his trunk near the dresser and tapped it with his wand, then rummaged inside it once it had returned to it's normal size. Pulling out a simple black t-shirt and pair of loose red sweat pants, he dug a little deeper and came back up with socks and a pair of underwear. He wasn't going to think about how weird it was to share underwear, especially with someone he didn't even know. When he turned to see where Fionn was, he noticed the Fae back in his kneeling position just inside the door. Approaching him, he held out the clothes.

"Here, these should fit you well enough for now. And they're a lot warmer than what you're wearing, go ahead and put them on and we'll see about going shopping later for clothes that actually fit you."

Fionn didn't move so much as a muscle for a long moment, so long Harry was beginning to wonder if the Fae was deaf, except that he had answered when Pepper called him. Finally he reached out and very tentatively took the bundle of clothes from Harry's hand, and then he stood up and stripped the shorts he was wearing off without any warning or outward show of embarrassment. Harry was embarrassed enough for the both of them as he realized Fionn wasn't wearing anything at all under the shorts. He blushed brightly and turned quickly away not having expected Fionn to just strip like that. He listened to the sounds of fabric rustling and when all was finally silent again, he dared to glance back to see if the Fae was dressed. He was, and back to his kneeling position on the floor. Harry supposed that he had been trained to assume that position when nothing was required of him, it didn't look all that comfortable to _him_ but he wasn't sure how to go about getting him to realize he was safe here. Shortly after that, his door opened and Ash breezed through with three plates.

"Hope grilled cheese sandwiches are okay with you, I didn't feel like doing any real cooking tonight and thought since I didn't know what either of you liked, that these would do." She put two of the plates on Harry's desk and then wandered back out the door, calling over her shoulder as she left. "I'm heading for bed, you can leave the plates on the desk when you're done and we'll deal with them in the morning. Night!"

Shaking his head in amusement, Harry approached the desk and got one of the plates. "Ready for dinner Fionn? Hope this is okay since Ash didn't give us much choice." He held the plate out and waited a moment. Finally the Fae stood and approached, only to sink back to his knees beside the chair. He didn't look up, or even attempt to take the plate from Harry. Frowning slightly, Harry sat down in the chair and held the plate directly in front of Fionn's face. Did he not like grilled cheese? Fionn still didn't move, but now Harry could hear the Fae's tummy growling softly.

"Go on, it's safe, Ash wouldn't poison us. And it's hard to ruin grilled cheese, so even if she can't cook it would be edible..."

Fionn still didn't move, though Harry could see his hands clench slightly where they rested on his knees, as though he wanted to take it but didn't quite dare. Utterly confused by this point, he wondered if perhaps Fionn hadn't been allowed to use plates? Putting the plate back on the desk, he took one half of the sandwich and held that out to Fionn and waited to see if he would take it now. Instead, the Fae lifted his head a little and leaned forward, taking a small bite and chewing before swallowing and looking quickly up at Harry through his fringe as though for permission to continue. Anger smouldered in the back of Harry's brain, to have so degraded another person as to make them only eat from your hand... he just couldn't get his mind around it. Shoving the feeling back down until he could deal with it later, he held the sandwich out again, watching as Fionn repeated his careful movements and ate the rest of the half. Harry fed him the other half of the sandwich, and then half of his own as well before the Fae turned his head away. Harry was no stranger to hunger, and he had wondered when Fionn had last been allowed to eat, which is why he decided to offer his own meal as well. Quickly finishing the last cold half a sandwich, he stood up.

Fionn backed away hurriedly, and then followed Harry to the door by the desk. It was indeed a bathroom. He quickly washed his hands and used the toilet and then went back out into the bedroom, where Fionn was kneeling beside the door.

"You can use the bathroom Fionn, and you don't need to ask, it's right there so go ahead." He was a little surprised when Fionn actually did stand up and enter the bathroom, but pleased that he had gotten some kind of reaction out of him. Heading over to examine the bed and view out the window while he waited for Fionn to come out again, he was slightly disappointed to see that it was now dark out and he couldn't really see anything outside. Turning around, he saw Fionn had managed to silently return and was now curled up on the floor at the foot of the bed as though he was going to spend the night there.

"You can't sleep on the floor. There's a bedroom with a bed next door that's for you, come on, I'll show you." Harry was almost to the door when he realized that Fionn hadn't moved from the foot of the bed. The Fae was actually curled up in a tight ball with his face buried against his knees as though he was about to be punished.

"Er...or you can stay here I guess? But you still can't sleep on the floor. I guess... the bed looks more than big enough for two..."

Fionn peered out through his hair as if judging whether or not he could trust Harry, but not knowing what was being looked for, Harry just looked at him a little helplessly and tugged at his own hair a moment. Turning back to the bed, he pulled back the covers and patted the mattress lightly.

"Come on, the bed's much more comfortable than the floor I'm sure."

Very slowly, Fionn uncurled and crept to the bed, before moving quickly and getting in. He was so quick, Harry almost missed seeing him altogether. One moment he was a few steps away from the bed, and the next he was buried under the blankets with only his white-blonde hair and one golden eye visible. Getting in on the other side, Harry used his wand to turn out the lights and then put the wand on the table beside the bed.

"Goodnight then." No answer, not that he had expected to hear one. He was curious about what the Fae would sound like when he finally did speak, and he hoped he would get to hear him soon.


	6. Shopping And Other Adventures

Harry woke up on his third day in the Realm slowly, still a little drowsy and not sure he actually wanted to be awake. They had spent the last two days in Ash's house trying to get Fionn to trust them, and in Harry's case, learning some of what he needed to control his powers. Neither one of which had been at all easy. His Wizard magic had never been this hard to learn or to control, but his Demon magic seemed to be wilder and less willing to do what he asked of it. So far, the only thing he could get it to do was make a tongue of flame appear on the end of his finger. And that was something Fire Demon _children_ were able to do, at least according to Ash.

Fionn was still shy and skittish around them, he barely spoke, usually only one or two words at a time, and always with hunched shoulders as though waiting for a blow to fall because he dared to speak. He would eat from a plate if Harry ordered him to, but that too was something he seemed to fear. The Fae wouldn't let Harry out of his sight unless Harry was in the bathroom, it was as if he thought that if he took his eyes off of him he would disappear. Though they had yet to catch Fionn actually looking at either of them, he still kept his head bowed and eyes on the floor. Harry was still sharing his bed with the Fae as well, though he had to invite him into it every night or Fionn would attempt to sleep on the floor at the foot like that first night.

Today they were going to venture out and buy clothes, both for Fionn as well as Harry. He was tired of cutting slits down the back of his shirts so his wings could fit, and Ash promised that they could get shirts in the Realm that had spells woven into them that would allow his wings to pass through without damaging the shirts at all. He briefly wondered how his friends were doing, he missed them, but since time moved differently here, they might not even know he was gone yet. Seven days in the Realm was only one day in the mortal world.

Stretching, he opened his eyes and crawled out of the bed. Today would also be a day of food he didn't have to cook, at least he hoped it would be. After the grilled cheese sandwiches of the first night, he quickly found out that Ash hated cooking and usually went out for nearly all of her meals. She kept very little in the way of food stocked, but had just enough odds and ends that he had been able to keep all three of them fed.

"Time to get up Fionn. We're going to get new clothes for you today, and Ash promised it wouldn't be as crowded in the morning as it will be later this afternoon and evening."

The lump at the far side of the bed stirred, and satisfied that Fionn had heard him, Harry went ahead into the bathroom to get ready while the Fae got dressed in the bedroom. Once he was out of the bathroom, they switched places and then met Ash in the hallway.

"Morning Harry! Morning Fionn! Ready to go shopping? I made some toast while I was waiting on you two to get up." She shoved a piece of buttered toast in Harry's and then Fionn's direction, practically bouncing on her toes in her eagerness to leave and start dressing them both up. Harry started to have a bad feeling about this, if Ash was _this_ excited, he wasn't sure he was going to enjoy this shopping trip. But it was too late to change his mind, she was already hurrying out the front door.

By the time Harry caught up with her, they were already almost to the main shopping district. Fionn was sticking so closely to Harry it was as if he had been glued to his side, one hand was even holding tightly to the hem of Harry's shirt. Harry thought he saw a glimpse of one of the Warriors he had seen on his first day, but he couldn't be sure as the man turned and headed down a side street before he'd gotten a good look at him. When they finally entered a clothing store, Harry took one look around and knew Fionn was going to be overwhelmed. Harry himself was afraid he was in over his head. There were racks of clothes occupying most of the store, and a fitting room in the back. But there also seemed to be an area that looked as though you could get things custom-made. Ash had already disappeared into the racks with a happy little squeal.

"Well. I guess that means we're on our own... I don't know what kind of clothes you'd like to wear Fionn, but I'm sure we can find you something. Tell me if you see anything you want and I'll get it, if you don't, Ash is likely to come up with something and I'm sure you've seen enough of her by now to know why that's a bad idea." He let his voice take on a hint of a teasing tone as he spoke about Ash, and hoped that Fionn wasn't going to freeze up.

This was probably a bit soon to spring on him, but he really couldn't go on wearing Harry's clothes. As he maneuvered their way through the racks, picking up shirts and a few pairs of pants for himself, Harry realized they had managed to end up in the fancier area of racks. Dress shirts and dress pants, leather pants and jackets, suits and ties. As he turned to pick another direction, he realized that Fionn had reached out one finger and was lightly touching one of the white, long sleeved dress shirts.

"Did you want that? Is it your size and all?"

The moment he spoke, Fionn yanked his hand away and put it behind his back like he was going to get smacked for touching. Harry sighed softly and picked up the shirt. It felt like it was made of silk, and had tiny white buttons down the front, as well as two buttons on each cuff. He checked the size, then held it out towards the Fae.

"Try it on, it's quite soft and I know it will look good on you."

Fionn hesitated for a long moment, before finally taking the shirt. He stripped off the one he was wearing, and put the dress shirt on, doing up the tiny buttons with hardly a fumble. It actually fit him quite well, and Harry decided to pick up a few of them, and got another three in white then looked to see what other colors they had.

"Do you want any in red, purple, or green? There's a dark blue in your size as well." No answer came. "If you don't tell me, I'll just grab a few of each color..."

"J-just white." The voice was soft, barely audible, and carried a quality of long disuse, but at least Fionn was finally speaking.

"Alright then. What about pants? Jeans? Leather? Dress pants? Shorts? What would you like to wear?"

Another long pause as Harry gathered up an armful of the white silk dress shirts. Fionn seemed to be having an internal struggle about whether or not he should continue to speak.

"J-jeans...one leather?" The Fae cringed the moment he asked, but Harry pretended to ignore it and headed towards the appropriate racks.

"I don't know your size, so you're going to have to go through these yourself. And then use the fitting room to try them on, you can't take your pants off in public." Harry blushed to even have to mention that, but was sure if he hadn't, Fionn would have just stripped down.

Finally done with their selections, they approached the counter and Harry paid for it all with his Gringotts card. There was still no sight of Ash, and with the number of bags they had he didn't really want to wait much longer.

"Ash! We're done, hurry up, you promised us lunch!"

"Okay, okay already! So impatient!" She finally appeared carrying a tower of clothes and dumped them on the counter. "And please have these as well as their stuff delivered to my house. It's 1619 Cirrus Court." Snatching the bags from Harry's hands, she passed them over the counter to the clerk and then herded them out of the store.

"It's such a nice day, and we've been cooped up in the house so long, I think we should visit the park. You two can get settled and people-watch, and I'll bring us all back some food."

Luckily the park didn't seem to be far from where they were, just down a side street and a few blocks over. Ash left them sitting under the shade of a large willow tree and dashed off again. Fionn sat huddled against Harry's side, and he found himself absently petting the Fae's hair. It was strange how quickly he had gotten used to having Fionn around, as well as his strange reactions to the most normal of things. But he was making progress, hopefully one day soon he would truly believe that Harry wasn't going to harm him. As he was lost in thought, a childish squeal rang out over their end of the park.

A little girl ran past them, long red-orange hair, like a sunset, streaming behind her. A young man with cornflower blue hair, chased after her and caught her around the waist, hiking her up off the ground and swinging her in the air.

"Trist! Again! Swing me again!"

"Celly, I've already swung you more times than I can count! You're going to wear me out, and then what will I do when I have to go back to work?"

"Don't want you to go to work. You're always tired and mommy and daddy say you do too much." Her lower lip stuck out in an adorable pout.

Harry lost what the young man - her brother? - said in response as Ash came back carrying three bowls and forks. Setting a bowl in front of each of them, she flopped down in the grass on Harry's other side and started to eat happily. Even Fionn slowly reached for the food, but Harry couldn't get past the fact that it was bright _purple_ and seemed to have lumps of something that were darker purple under the sauce. He poked it cautiously with the fork and when it didn't move on it's own, and didn't seem to be poisoning his companions, he finally took a very tentative bite.

The flavor burst along his tongue, it wasn't quite like anything he had ever eaten before, slightly spicy but also sweet. The lumps had the consistency of a potato and were quite good. It didn't take him long to finish the bowl.

"What was that? Is it something only made in the Realm?"

"Purple yams in a sweet pepper sauce Harry. I think it's made in the mortal realm as well, but it's quite popular as a snack here. Now that we've shopped and eaten, I think it's time for a nap. Then we can decide where else we want to go." Ash wasn't really tired at all, but Fionn looked like he needed more time to relax, and she couldn't think of an easier way than to have him sleep his nerves off a while. Harry glanced over at Fionn as well before nodding and laying back and staring up at the leaves overhead. The little girl and her companion had wandered off out of sight sometime during their meal, so it was once again just the three of them.


	7. Healer's Visit

"Concentrate! Imagine the flame as a ball in the center of your hand."

"I _am_ concentrating! This is hard Ash, much harder than learning my Wizard magic, and even most of that I can't say was a cake walk." Harry ran his hand through his hair in frustration, it was already standing out from his head in an even bigger mess than usual from the amount of times he had done so in the last few hours. He could get the flame to appear, but he couldn't seem to make it take on any shape for the life of him.

Ash frowned and took a step back, her eyes narrowing slightly as she seemed to look _through_ him. She finally shook her head and sighed.

"All right, this isn't getting us anywhere, and the last thing we need is you losing control when you don't seem to have any in the first place. We'd better take you down to the Healing Quarter and see if anyone can figure out why you're having issues."

Harry just nodded, too frustrated by his lack of progress to even object all that strongly to having to go to a Healer. Ash had already assured him earlier that it wasn't because they were of different elements, anyone who wanted to become a Guide had to go through tests and training. They were all trained in the basics of control for each Element, and no one was allowed to become a Guide who hadn't passed. He was still a little amazed that she had managed to pass her tests, considering how easily bored and distracted she was.

As he followed Ash through the house, Fionn slid through the door of the library where he had been waiting through Harry's lesson, and fell into step just behind Harry and to his left. It had been deemed safer for the Fae to _not_ be in the room while Harry was learning, for everyone's sake. They left the house and turned down a street Harry hadn't investigated yet, it went in the opposite direction of the park and the main shopping area. Ash was humming softly to herself and seemed to be paying no attention to where they were going, but Harry didn't bother to ask her if they were taking the scenic route. If they were, he didn't want to know, his head was already throbbing from the training they had been doing and he really, _really_ didn't want to give her any ideas about livening things up if she didn't already have them.

It seemed like they walked for a much longer time than it had taken them to get to any of the other places Ash had dragged them to. And the path they were on sloped downwards, it was quite curious. But at long last, a Square came into view. All the buildings were many-storied, and had the look of offices, or other business-type structures. And yet, they had the curves and flowing lines he had come to expect to see on the buildings in the Realm. Ash headed towards one that was about four stories tall, and had plants scattered around in pots around the base of the stairs leading to the front door. Once they got inside, she went straight for the desk and the Water Demon sitting typing something into a computer.

"Emergency or check-up?" The brunette didn't even look up from his computer screen as he asked the question, it looked like he was updating another patient's medical record as he kept flipping through a stapled form on his desk, but Harry couldn't read it from their angle.

"Check-up."

The receptionist finally put the form into a box on his desk where it vanished, and then he looked up at them. "All three of you?"

"No, just Harry for now." Ash motioned to Harry and the receptionist pulled out another form.

"Fill this out and turn it back in when you're done, a Healer should be available shortly afterwards."

Ash took the form and a pen out of the cup on the desk, and headed for a row of empty seats with Harry and Fionn following her. She quickly began to fill out the form, asking Harry a question every now and then. He was a little surprised that she wasn't making him do it himself, but figured she must want this done with quickly, and her handwriting was better than his was. Once it was complete, she dropped it back with the receptionist and they all went back to waiting.

There weren't as many patients waiting in the room as Harry had expected. A young girl with bronze hair and eyes sat looking scared diagonally across from them, a woman who looked like her mother was with her holding her hand and murmuring softly to her. Two young men with Warriors braids were on the other side of the room, one was favoring his left wing. And a quartet of...Djinn? Harry wasn't sure, but whatever they were, they looked grim and were waiting impatiently. None of them looked hurt, but he didn't wish to draw their attention so didn't look all that closely. Fionn wasn't holding on to him, but he was sitting as closely as the chairs allowed them. They sat for perhaps twenty minutes before a young woman with pink hair popped her head through one of the doors and called for them. She led them down a hall and turned the corner before stopping at a door.

"Healer Hawthorne will be with you shortly." She waved them into the room, smiled brightly and then left again, closing the door softly behind herself.

Ash immediately took possession of the only chair in the room, leaving Harry to perch on the edge of the examination table. Fionn glanced briefly at the round, wheeled stool, and then lightly dropped to his knees on the floor near Harry's feet.

"You don't have to sit on the floor Fionn, I'm sure the Healer won't mind if you use the stool, at least until he arrives." Harry said, his voice a little perplexed as he thought they had managed to get past that particular quirk in Fionn's personality. There were still a lot of things they needed to fix, but he _had_ thought sitting on the floor at his feet was one they'd already covered.

Fionn just shook his head slightly, and spoke in a soft voice. "Don't want to be a bother."

Before Harry could come up with a suitable response, the door in the back of the room opened and a man bustled into the room. He had short cornflower blue hair, and his eyes when he got close enough for Harry to see them, were a dark midnight blue. He was wearing a light green vest with a short sleeved darker green shirt on underneath, the pants were the same shade as the vest. He seemed familiar, but Harry couldn't quite place why.

The Fae paused a moment when he saw Fionn kneeling on the floor, but other than raising a single eyebrow, he didn't comment on it. He just smiled at them all and clasped his hands in front of him. "Hello! I'm Healer Hawthorne, but please call me Tristan. I see by your file that this is your first visit to a Healer's in the Realm. I imagine it won't be too different than a Wizarding check-up, at least in the basics of things. Was there anything specific you came in for, or is it time for your annual visit?"

"I'd like you to check to see if anything is wrong with him magically, he hasn't been able to do even the simplest of his Fire training exercises."

Ash spoke up before Harry could even get his mouth open enough to say anything, he rolled his eyes and decided not to try to say anything unless Ash got distracted by something shiny. Fionn stood fluidly and moved silently towards the corner Ash was sitting in, so he was out of the Healer's way.

Tristan for his part frowned slightly and looked at Harry with his head tilted towards the left a bit. "How long have you been doing the exercises Harry?"

"Almost a week now. I can call fire, but I can't make it do anything once I have it." His face burned, he felt stupid that he couldn't do something even children were capable of doing.

"That...doesn't make any sense." Healer Tristan opened a drawer and pulled out a dull-looking black stone, it was about an inch and a half in diameter. "Hold this and imagine your Fire filling it up. Don't force your power into it, just let it trickle in like liquid fire."

Harry took the stone and looked at it dubiously, then shrugged and concentrated on doing what the Healer had said. The stone glowed ever so faintly from within, but nothing else happened. It didn't even grow warm or anything.

Healer Tristan snatched it out of Harry's hand and tossed it back in the drawer before pulling out what looked suspiciously like a hat pin. He then took down a copper bowl from a cabinet, and two beakers. Pouring a little of each beaker into the bowl, he mixed them together quickly with the hat pin, before rinsing the pin off in the sink. Then he carried both the bowl and pin over to Harry and held out the pin. "I'll need three drops of your blood into the bowl please."

Harry gingerly took the pin and held his left index finger over the bowl before stabbing it with the pin. Blood welled up immediately and he winced before letting three drops fall.

Healer Tristan whisked the bowl and pin back off to the counter where he swirled the mixture around a few times. Reaching to his left, he opened another drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper, he then dumped the contents of the bowl onto the paper and waited as it seemed to be sucked into it. He read the writing that appeared and blinked twice before turning back to Harry.

"You have a spell tied into your magic, both Wizarding and Demon. However it seems to concentrate mostly on the Demon magics, which would explain why you are having issues using your powers. This particular spell has been tied to you for so long, it will be very difficult to unravel. It would be easier if there was a physical component... Do you have any tattoos? Or scars that you don't remember exactly how you got? Especially magical scars?"

"I have my curse scar, from when Voldemort tried to kill me as a baby..." Harry was in a bit of shock. While he was glad that Healer Tristan had possibly found the issue, he wasn't sure how he felt about the fact that someone had basically put a lock on his powers. He knew he'd end up being angry about it once the shock wore off, and didn't want to set the hospital on fire, so maybe if he just didn't think about it too hard for right now...

He lifted his fringe so the Healer could see his curse scar and shoved his thoughts away for the moment.

Healer Tristan looked at the scar, then held his hand out hovering just above Harry's skin. His hand glowed softly and the scar felt warm and prickly, then he dropped his hand and shook his head. "That one is tied into the spell as well, but it isn't the source. If you don't know of any others, we're going to have to look for glamor charms. And to do that I'll need you to strip. Do you want your Guide or your mate to remain in here for that?"

Harry's eyes widened and he blushed, he was going to have to strip? And in front of a near-complete stranger? Then he quickly shook his head.

"N-no. I'd rather they didn't stay for that. And Fionn's not my mate." He'd almost missed that in his embarrassment, but while Fionn wasn't his slave, he most certainly wasn't his mate either. Not that Harry thought he'd mind that thought as much as he did when Ash first spoke about mates, but he still wasn't sure he was ready. Regardless, Fionn was too broken. He refused to do anything while the Fae followed him around and treated him like he was his Master. It wouldn't be right.

"All right then, everyone out. You can come back in after we're done."

Surprisingly, Ash just stood up and led Fionn out without a protest, apparently she had no more wish to see him without his clothes than Harry had for her to see him that way. After she left, Healer Tristan busied himself tidying the counter, cleaning and putting away the various things he had pulled out earlier. Harry was grateful that his back was turned as he got undressed, even if he'd be seeing him in just his boxers soon enough. When he put the last item on the examination table, he shifted his feet nervously. "I'm done..."

Healer Tristan turned around and didn't blink or look at him with anything other than a professional eye. "Now Harry, you saw what I did with your scar? I'm going to have to do the same with the rest of you. If I don't find anything, we'll have to try again without your boxers."

Harry thought his face was going to combust, he was blushing so hard, and dearly hoped that Healer Tristan would find the source of the spell _without_ him having to get totally nude to do it!

Healer Tristan took a deep breath and seemed to center himself, then raised his right hand and started to pass the glowing appendage about an inch above Harry's skin. He started with Harry's face, and moved to his neck, then both arms, chest, tummy, legs. He then circled around Harry and did the back of his head, back of his neck, backs of his arms, back, and then stopped. Harry felt gentle fingers lightly tug the top of his boxers down just slightly, and then a feather-light touch on the small of his back. He felt that warm, prickly sensation again, but much stronger this time, and it was coming from the area Healer Tristan had traced.

"Found it. It looks like someone has spelled a brand of some kind into your back. I'm sorry, but I have never come across anything like it before. I'm going to take an imprint, which is like a picture done by magic, of the brand and with your permission, show it to a few colleagues of mine who have been practicing longer than I have. The moment I know what it is, and what it's supposed to do, we can figure out exactly how to remove it without damaging your or your magics. Is that all right with you?"

"I-yes. I want it gone, so do what you need to do."

Harry felt the tingling sensation grow stronger, and then Healer Tristan was stepping away from him and telling him he could get dressed again.

"I'll take this around right away, we'll hopefully know something soon. So go ahead and meet your Guide and set up another appointment with me in say...a week. If I find out anything sooner than that, I'll get in touch with you and we can move up your appointment. Don't worry Harry, it's fixable."


	8. Visiting the Twins

After the latest twist in the 'this could only happen to me' soap opera that Harry called his life, he decided that what he really wanted to do was to go see some familiar faces. It would have been almost two days in the Wizarding World since he had left it, so his friends would have hopefully received his messages by now. But as much as he wanted to see them, the last thing he wanted to deal with was more drama. Which pretty much left Ron out for the moment, the red-head was just as likely to go off on him for skipping out with only a note, as he was to accept Harry popping over for a visit with Ash and Fionn in tow. That also meant he couldn't go visit Hermione. She'd freak out on him in worry first, and then go into research mode about his Demon status, and Fionn's Fae heritage, and the Realm, and anything else she could think of. Which left him with Fred and George.

He knew they'd be worried about him as well of course, but unlike Ron and Hermione, they wouldn't grill him about everything that had happened. He could count on them to check and be sure he was fine, which he was, mostly. And then they'd do their best to cheer him up and make him laugh. They might even have a few ideas on the brand on his back, what it might be and how to get rid of it. Sure, Healer Tristan said the Realm Healers would be able to get rid of it, but he had also said he had never seen anything like it. If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt to _ask_ the twins if they had any ideas.

After Harry had gotten all that sorted in his head, he focused on his surroundings again and blushed a little as he realized that Fionn was waiting patiently, and Ash not-so-patiently for him to rejoin them. Ash had already gotten his next Healer's visit sorted, and was twitching her wings and examining her nails in obvious boredom.

"Sorry. Way too much to think about, especially with this last fun twist in my life. Uh, I was wondering if we could go visit some of my friends? You'd like the Weasley twins, they're pranksters and own their own magical joke shop..." He wasn't actually sure introducing Ash to the twins was in his best interests, but since he couldn't get _himself_ there as yet he didn't really have a choice...

"Magical joke shop? That sounds like _fun!_" Ash's eyes lit up and she actually rubbed her hands together in glee. "Oh, but if we're going back to the mortal Realm, we're going to have to wear glamors. Can't just show up and expect not to get hunted down and staked. Plus I don't actually know where we're going, so I can't just pop us into their house or store or whatever."

"They're in Diagon Alley, number 93."

Ash just nodded and looked at Harry carefully a moment, then she reached out and traced a wavy line in the air with one finger, starting just above the level of his head, and ending about waist-high. He felt a gentle breeze blow past him, and then it was over. Before he could ask what she was doing, she repeated the gesture, only this time her finger pointed at herself, and Harry saw her wings, horns and claws seem to vanish.

"There, that should do it. Fionn won't need a glamor as his looks aren't as obviously non-human. Gather round now, I want to see this magical joke shop!" Ash gathered them close to her, Harry on her left and Fionn on her right. She held Harry around the waist with her left arm, and Harry held Fionn as Ash raised her right arm and called Air. Moments later they appeared in an empty alley between two stores, Harry immediately recognized Diagon Alley when they stepped out onto the main street and led the way to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

As they entered the shop, he saw it was packed with people, but there was no sign of the twins anywhere. A girl was working the cash register, he supposed it was Verity, the twins assistant, but he had never met her. Making his way through the crowd, he drew Fionn along with him, Ash had already taken off and was looking at all the products in fascination.

"Excuse me, but where are Fred and George?"

Verity looked over quickly and then back at what she was doing. "Sorry, they aren't here today, had to work on a few things. Come back tomorrow, they might be in then."

"Can you tell me where they are? I really needed to talk to them today, and I know they'll want to see me."

"Look, it's busy right now and Fred and George are busy too. Try back tomorrow."

Harry sighed, he didn't want to announce who he was in front of all these people, he'd never get out of here. As it was, he was surprised no one had recognized him yet. Well, he knew how to get to the twins flat above the store, if they weren't in the workshop in the back they might be upstairs. And if they weren't there, he'd have to try back some other time. He waited until Verity was distracted by another customer, and then towed Fionn to a door marked "Employee's Only". Taking another quick look around, he ducked through it and shut it quickly after Fionn. The noise of the shop was instantly silenced and he headed down the short hall to the workshop. It was empty, as was the storage room beside it. So he climbed the stairs leading to Fred and George's flat. At the top he knocked and then waited. After a moment he knocked again. Just as he was deciding no one was home after all, the door was yanked open and Fred appeared looking grumpy.

"I told you we're busy today! Wha- Harry?!" Fred's eyes widened comically and then he was dragging Harry inside, Fionn was pulled along as well as Harry hadn't let go of him yet, and the door was slammed shut and locked behind them.

"We got your letter, but we weren't sure what to make of it. Ron is right pissed you know, I wouldn't visit the Burrow for a while at least until he cools down." Fred hugged Harry quickly and then held him at arm's length as he continued to talk. Fionn moved slightly behind Harry during this as he was still a little iffy about new people, especially loud exuberant ones like Fred.

"Who's this then?"

"Fred this is Fionn, he's a Fae from the Realm. Fionn, this is Fred Weasley, don't ever eat anything he gives you."

"Oi! I'm hurt, Harry, hurt!" Fred seemed to be his usual self, but something felt off. His eyes weren't quite as cheerful as usual, the twinkle of mischief was completely missing, and Harry didn't see George anywhere in the main room. Harry frowned slightly.

"Fred, where's George? Is everything okay? You and Verity both said you were busy, did I interrupt you in the middle of testing?"

"No... George is... Well he's in the bedroom. Mum wasn't any too happy when she found out that we had the funds to start this place. It didn't help that we didn't tell her until after we opened, but we were hoping she'd be a little happier for us since the business is doing so well." The smile fell off Fred's face and his shoulders drooped a little, but he also looked a little angry and that wasn't something Harry was used to seeing on the face of either twin.

It worried him a bit, enough that he took the few steps between him and the bedroom door and opened it without asking Fred if he could. The room was dim, the curtains drawn even though it was the middle of the day, only a single candle lit on one of the night tables near the head of the bed. As Harry's eyes adjusted, he saw George sitting on the side of the bed with his shoulders hunched and one hand covering his face. He didn't move, not even when Harry called his name softly. Harry walked slowly into the room, stopping only when he stood directly before George. Kneeling on the floor, he looked up but still couldn't see George's face.

"George? Do you want to talk about it?"

George finally moved, dropping his hand into his lap and lifting his head to look at Harry. And that was when Harry saw the livid purple hand print on George's left cheek. It stood out against the fair skin, and looked recent as well as extremely painful. Harry sucked in a breath in shock and then his eyes narrowed. He didn't even notice when the candle flame tripled in height, he was too angry that someone had _hurt George_. He was going to find out who had done it and then they were going to _pay._

"Who did it? Who _hit_ you?" He wasn't paying attention to anything but George now, though in the back of his head a thought was running around saying it had been a bad idea to leave Ash downstairs.

"Mum. She said-" George winced and broke off, talking was apparently painful.

"She said that the shop wouldn't amount to anything, that it would be a useless waste of money. And that she wished she'd never given birth to such twisted and sick sons as us." Fred said flatly. He had followed Harry into the room, and stood near the doorway.

"Twisted and sick? Because you opened a joke shop?" Harry shook his head, even in his anger, this wasn't making any sense to him at all. Fred crossed his arms and slowly shook his head.

"Twisted and sick because we're dating each other."

"Well of course you are. You're one soul in two bodies. Hermione looked it up once in third year, I don't remember much, but you two fit all the bits the book had about how to tell."

"We are? I mean, we do? I mean, that would explain a lot really..." Fred looked surprised and then thoughtful.

Fionn had remained mostly forgotten through all of this, but as the tension died down, he crept a little closer to the bed and Harry and George. His eyes flickered a little as though he was battling something inside himself, and then very slowly he reached out and lightly touched George's cheek right in the middle of the hand print. Before George had time to jerk away, Fionn's fingers began to glow a soft gold and warmth rushed into George's cheek, taking all the pain with it. When Fionn dropped his hand and slid back behind Harry again, nothing was left of the bruise that had been there but seconds before. Harry's mouth opened in shock, and Fred moved quickly over to the bed to see for himself.

"F-Fionn. How did you do that?"

Fionn just shook his head and dropped to his knees so he could press his face into Harry's back. Harry sighed softly and shrugged a shoulder at the twins. "Fionn is Fae, I'm going to guess that either this is something all Fae can do, or it's Fionn-specific and we won't get answers about it from Fionn either way. He's been badly abused and still getting used to the fact that Ash and I aren't going to hurt him, or let anyone else hurt him anymore." Harry ran soothing fingers through Fionn's hair as he explained to the twins what little he knew.

"Who is Ash?" George looked up to see if there was anyone else in the room with them, Fred shrugged in answer.

"Ash is my Guide. She took one look at your store and went all toddler in a candy store, I don't expect to see her for another few hours at this rate. She's an Air Demon and I don't know if it's normal for her type, but she's easily distracted by shiny things, and thinks the strangest things are 'fun.' That's how I found Fionn, the first thing she did after we got to the Realm was take me to a...Brothel." Harry's face turned red, both at the thought and at the fact that he had just confessed that to _the twins!_ He was never going to live this down. Indeed, Fred and George had identical evil grins on their faces.

"Did ickle Harrykins have _fun_?"

"Yes, did Harrykins finally change his status?" Fred's eyebrows wiggled up and down as he and George leered at Harry.

"I knew telling you that would be a bad idea. And _no_, I did not have fun. I bought Fionn to get him out of there and then made Ash take me somewhere else. On a completely different note, I actually _did_ have a reason to visit you two. Besides letting you know I really was fine and all."

The twins stood up in unison and pulled Harry, and thus Fionn, up off the floor as well. "Then let us adjourn back to the living room, more light and seating and all that in there." Fred linked arms with Harry and led him off, and George did the same with Fionn. The Fae looked a little confused but wasn't actually objecting to being dragged off by a virtual stranger, Harry supposed that was progress. They all ended up squished onto the couch with a twin on each end.

"What was it you wanted Harry? Products? Pranking help?"

"Uh... well, not exactly. Apparently I didn't just end up with a Demon Inheritance, oh no, that wasn't bad enough. Ash took me to the Healer's today because I couldn't get my Demon magics to work and we found out there's some kind of brand on my back that's tied into my magic. Specifically, it's suppressing my Demon Magics, and a bit of my Wizarding magics as well. I was wondering if you two had heard of anything like that before?"

Fred and George looked at each other, almost seeming to have a conversation in nothing but the way their faces twitched. An eyebrow raised here, a shrug there. Finally they looked back at Harry and spoke.

"Not that we can think of, but maybe seeing this brand would help."

Harry had known this was going to happen sooner or later, so he got off the couch and turned his back to them. He hoped Ash's glamor didn't cover the brand as well as his Demon attributes. Pulling his shirt off over his head he pointed to where Healer Tristan had said the brand was and waited. Soon he felt two sets of fingers lightly tracing over the marks, and a murmured conversation was fired back and forth, he only caught a word or two of it and nothing that made sense. Finally the fingers withdrew and he put his shirt back on before facing them all again.

"It's strong magic, but nothing we've ever seen before. Sorry Harry, we could look into it though if you like?"

"Nah, it's okay. My Realm Healer said he was going to show it to more senior Healers and he was sure they could get it unraveled. You have enough to worry about with the shop, I just thought it was worth a try. Speaking of, if Molly gets worse, or you need somewhere to escape to, contact the Goblins. They'll get a message to me and I'll come and get you. One day here is seven days in the Realm, so you won't have to wait long for me to arrive if you _do_ need me. I mean it. Promise you'll contact me if you need to." He tried to look stern, but had the feeling it came off more like a kitten trying to intimidate a wolf or a tiger. He'd grown with his Inheritance, but was still quite short for a male his age.

"We promise Harry."

"But I don't think it'll come to that." Fred said and shrugged. Just then the door leading up from the shop thumped open and Ash appeared looking way too Happy for Harry's state of mind. She was also completely loaded down with bags.

"This place is _wonderful!_ We need one in the Realm. Just _think_ of all the _fun_ I'm going to have with all this stuff!"

AN:

For what it's worth, I don't actually hate Molly. Or Ron or Dumbledore for that matter. But I needed some bad guys for the fic and this is where the plot bunny ran.

I know, I'm horrible to my poor characters. Happy stuff will happen again too at some point, promise! Comments and suggestions are wonderful things, and I may add in requests/ideas if they work with my plot. Nothing is currently pre-written, I'm working on chapters after I get off work at night.


	9. Explanations

After Ash was settled in a chair, happily going through her purchases and mumbling to herself about who she was going to try them out on, Fred turned back towards Harry.

"Got a few questions of our own for you Harry."

"Demon Inheritance?"

"The Realm?"

"Fae?"

"Just _what_ have you managed to land yourself into this time?"

Harry squirmed a little in his seat, he knew Fred and George did it on purpose to confuse people, but he'd always been able to tell them apart for some strange reason. His current embarrassment came from the fact that he'd managed to blurt out so much, and all without remembering that he hadn't actually _told_ them about any of this yet. He ran a hand through his hair and gave them a sheepish smile.

"Uh, oops? I kinda forgot I hadn't actually mentioned any of that yet..."

"Oops? You hear that Gred? Dropping bombshells like that and all he can say is 'oops?'" Fred shook his head in mock-disapproval.

"I heard it Forge. You'd think after everything we taught him, he could come up with a better line than 'oops.'" George leaned on his twin, looking sadly over at Harry. They held the pose for less than a minute before cracking up.

"So spill already, what happened this time?"

"Yeah, don't leave us in suspense!"

"Well... The short version is, I woke up on my birthday and Ash was waiting to tell me I'd had a Demon Inheritance, and she was going to be my Guide. It's kind of like a teacher for all things Demonic. Then I went to Gringotts to get some money and found out that I hadn't been getting my statements, and had more vaults than I'd been told about. The Goblin I spoke to froze my accounts while they looked into what was going on. Oh, but I got a charge card that will still work in the meantime. And from there Ash took me to the Realm, which is basically another dimension where Demons, Fae, Incubi and Succubi live...there's Djinn and Gargoyles there too. Uhm..." Harry paused a moment, trying to sort through what all else had happened. "Oh yeah, and then I ended up buying Fionn because he'd been sold to a Brothel and I thought he was a slave but Ash says it's more like indentured servants. And after that we went to a Healer because I couldn't get my Demon magics to work. But I told you about that already. And we came to visit you."

The twins blinked once slowly, then looked at each other. "_That_ was the short version? And this all happened in the last 2 days?" It was never a good sign when they spoke at the same time. Harry tugged his hair a bit and squirmed again.

"Kinda? Time runs differently in the Realm than it does here. One day here is seven days there, so a lot more can happen in the same amount of time?" Harry's eyes widened suddenly and he turned towards Ash.

"Ash! I forgot I had to go back to see Healer Tristan, don't let me forget and spend all day here or I'll miss my appointment!"

Ash looked up from her bags and rolled her eyes. "Relax Harry. One day, twenty-four hours. You've been in this realm for, two hours at the most. We still have plenty of time. And since you're trusting these two, I have to say I _hate_ wearing glamors." With that, Ash did the same gesture she'd used to put the glamors on them, but in reverse, and suddenly Harry was sitting there with all his Demon attributes visible again, as were Ash's own.

He quickly stood up from the couch as his wings were getting squished into the cushions. The twins didn't have any stools or chairs made for those with wings, so he finally ended up leaning against the arm of the couch nearest Fionn.

"Wicked..." Fred and George breathed. They got up and circled around Harry again, looking closely at all the changes. Fred reached out and ran a hand down one of Harry's wings, eyes lit up in curiosity. While George noticed the horns and Harry's slit-pupiled eyes.

Harry for his part, was suddenly feeling like a zoo specimen. He liked the twins a lot, but having their full, undivided attention was a bit unnerving. And he'd had _no idea_ his wings were that sensitive! Ash and Fionn had touched them a few times since his inheritance, but neither of them had done it deliberately. The touches had been fleeting, over with before he really registered much, but Fred was _petting_ them like he was some kind of cat. It felt... _really_ good. And that was contributing to the squirmy feeling in the pit of his stomach. When George reached out to lightly touch one of the horns on his head, Harry couldn't help the full body shudder that suddenly hit him. He swallowed hard before trying to edge away.

"Uh, guys?"

George glanced down and his eyes widened suddenly at seeing the look on Harry's face. His own face got a bit of a pink tint, and he quickly knocked Fred's hand away from Harry's wings.

"Oi! I wasn't done looking Gred! If you wanted a turn you could have just said so!"

"The petting zoo is closed for the day Forge." George gave a meaningful look to his twin, glancing quickly towards Harry and then back to Fred. Fred blinked in puzzlement a moment and then his face took on the same pink tint George's had.

"Oh.. OH! Yeah. Sorry about that Harry. Guess we got a little carried away there. We've just never seen a guy with wings before."

"It's okay. That just felt kinda weird, I'm not a house kneezle you know."

Ash was snickering into one of the bags on her lap, for once not about to say anything in case her new toys were taken away before she could use them. A moment later she was straightening up, right hand held out palm upwards as though cupping something. Right after that, a glowing blue ball appeared in her hand, the light pulsing for a few moments before vanishing.

"Sorry all, we're going to have to go back to the Realm. That was work calling, I have a job I need to go out and do. Time-sensitive and all that."

She stood quickly and motioned for Harry and Fionn to come over. "Say you're goodbyes quick, you can come back and visit later, or I'll pop them over for a visit or something."

Harry was a little surprised, in the nearly two Realm weeks that he'd known Ash, she had never once spoken of having a job. Sure, he'd wondered what, if anything, she did for a living, but it hadn't come up. And this Ash was a very different Ash to the one he was used to.

"I guess I'll be seeing you around then. Remember you can get in touch with me via Gringotts."

Fred and George tousled Harry's hair and gave him quick one-armed hugs. "Yeah sure Harry, we'll be seeing you. We still have lots of stuff to ask you about." Fred grinned.

And then Harry was stepping into Ash's embrace with Fionn, she invoked Air and they were in the main room of Ash's home.

"I hopefully won't be gone too long, but I'll have to travel to the mortal realm for this job, so who knows how long I'll be gone from the Realm. Don't go anywhere I haven't already taken you, stay together, and _don't_ miss your Healer's appointment! If anyone gives you any trouble, tell them I'm your Guide and that I had to leave temporarily. They can take up any issues with me when I get back. I will try to finish this quickly so I can go to the appointment with you, but in case I can't, do everything Healer Tristan tells you to do." Ash said all of this quickly and a little sternly, then before Harry had much time to process everything, she had invoked Air again and was gone.


	10. Cage Match

Harry was bored, Ash had been gone for a few Realm days, and he still had two more days until his Healer's appointment. He'd been good so far, sticking to Ash's house, or the park they'd gone to his first week in the Realm. But he was still _bored._ Right now he and Fionn were at the edge of the park, he'd been tired of being cooped up in the house, and was sure Fionn must be as well. But he didn't really want to be _here_ either. As he looked around, trying to decide on something they could do that they hadn't done so far, he thought he saw a familiar face. Without really stopping to think about it, he turned away from the park and started to follow.

After a few turns down side streets he didn't recognize, Fionn finally worked up the courage to tug at Harry's sleeve and speak.

"Ash said not to go anywhere we haven't been already... I don't recognize this area..."

"It's okay Fionn, we're not going much farther. I saw someone I know and he was headed this way. He just went in there." Harry pointed at a two-story building to their right. "I just want to say hi, and then we can go back to the park, or the house or something." He gave Fionn's arm a reassuring squeeze, and then walked right up and entered the building.

Whatever he had been expecting, this was _not_ it. There were a bunch of people packed into the room, from what he could see, a great many of them appeared to be Warrior Demons. Being short meant he couldn't see what was going on, but that didn't seem to matter. Before he could decide this had been a bad idea after all, the crowd surged forward, pulling Harry and Fionn with it. Soon they were standing near the front, and Harry could see... Well, he wasn't sure what he was looking at. It looked almost like a bird cage, only it was easily big enough to fit three average-sized cars side-by-side inside of it. And there was what looked like a sturdier version of chicken wire covering the outside of the bars, with a single large gate like door a few feet to his left. The floor of the cage was two feet below the level of the floor in the rest of the room.

Just as he finished his examination, a large Storm Demon stepped from the crowd and entered the cage. Shortly after that, a purple-haired Shadow Demon followed him. He looked familiar to Harry, but was not the person Harry had followed to get to this place. It was hard to hear over the crowd, but it sounded like the two demons were going to fight each other. Harry missed hearing why they were fighting, if it was for money or some other reason. But the moment the fight started, he couldn't take his eyes off it. It was fascinating, and a little frightening. Both Demons used not only their claws and, what Harry considered 'normal' fighting moves, but they used their powers as well.

Lighting crackled and then arced off the Storm Demon's wings, narrowly missing the Shadow Demon. A mass of blackness coalesced, and then launched at the Storm Demon's face. Thunder rolled, the smell of ozone was thick in the air, and suddenly both Demons had launched themselves and were battling it out in the air. Diving and rolling as they attacked each other, they moved so quickly and so fluidly it was hard to tell which one was winning and which was losing. But finally, the Storm Demon fell to the floor of the cage and the Shadow Demon yelled in victory.

Fionn was pressed tightly to Harry's side, as though he was afraid of being carried off by the crowd. Harry wrapped an arm and a wing around the Fae to be sure they weren't separated, but otherwise tried not to move from his place. He wasn't exactly sure where the door was from here, or how to get back to the areas they knew, but in any event, their best bet would be to wait for the crowd to die down a bit before trying to get anywhere.

The Shadow Demon came out of the cage, and a brown-haired Earth Demon hurried past Harry towards the cage. As he passed, someone in the crowd stumbled, knocking into the Earth Demon, who then knocked into Harry. He had a sudden feeling of deja vu as his arm was grabbed, sparing all three a fall to the ground. As he looked up into hazel eyes, he suddenly realized where he had seen this Warrior before.

"You, I know you. We met my first day here, didn't we?"

The Earth Demon looked at him thoughtfully a moment, and then recognition seemed to dawn for him as well. "You're the one with an Air Guide. And I see you've already managed to find a mate." He grinned down at them, eyes flicking briefly to Harry's wings as he searched the crowd. "Or am I mistaken? I don't see the claiming studs, but...and where _is_ your Guide? I wouldn't think she would have left you on your own at a Cage Match, but Air can be a bit on the flighty side."

"Oh, er...she had to go to work. Left a few days ago and said she'd try to be back in the next two days. And Fionn's not my mate." Harry blushed and fidgeted slightly.

The Earth Demon's eyes snapped back to Harry, surprise showing clearly and then he shook his head. "I'm Herne if you've forgotten, Gideon is the Shadow Demon who won the cage match. I need to go and make sure he didn't take too much damage, but knowing you are currently Guideless and in the middle of a crowd who wont currently care who's blood gets spilled as long as they can see it happen... You're going to have to come with me. This is a very dangerous situation you've gotten yourself into young one, not just for yourself but for the Fae." Herne's voice was stern, and a touch disappointed as though Harry was a favorite nephew who had just managed to do something stupid.

Guiding them through the crowd with a hand on Harry's shoulder, and Fionn between them, Herne managed to get them past the cage and into a small room, a little bit behind and to the side of the cage. Once the door was closed behind them, silence fell so completely you wouldn't have known there was a crowd in the next room if you hadn't just come from there. Gideon turned towards them and quirked a brow at Herne.

"What's this then? Why... Well if it isn't the little one who tried to run me over a few weeks ago! And a mate already? Did you manage to lose your Guide in the crowd?"

"Why does everyone keep asking if Fionn is my mate? Doesn't anyone have same-gender friends in the Realm? Ash isn't here, she had to go to work and said she would try to get back in the next few days." Harry frowned and crossed his arms. Yeah, maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to follow Herne, especially somewhere he wasn't familiar with, and when Ash was out of touch. But he and Fionn were _fine_, nothing had happened, and he was tired of being treated like a child. He felt like biting the next person to call him 'Young one' or 'little one'.

"Somehow I doubt your Guide told you it would be okay to visit a cage match without her, and while she was gone." Herne went and picked up a sponge and dunked it in a bowl of liquid before wringing it out and passing it over various cuts and burns on Gideon's upper body.

"It's the way you two stand and interact. Generally you don't get that kind of a closeness unless you're mated, going to mate, or sometimes it happens with twins." Gideon shrugged, and then hissed as the movement pulled at a particularly nasty-looking burn on his right shoulder.

"You two look pretty close to me, so does that mean _you're_ mated?" Harry was still a bit annoyed, but at least he was getting answers. Prior to his inheritance, he would get the lectures about what he'd done wrong, but none of his questions were answered. Even Ash would go off on tangents while answering things, and then she'd confuse or distract him enough that he'd forget the original question sometimes.

Gideon burst out laughing. "Airany and Fiane would have something to say about that. Not to mention the fact that Herne isn't interested in men. No, we're close because we've fought and trained together for well over five hundred years."

Herne snickered at the look on Harry's face when he heard 'five hundred years.' "Immortal, remember? Just because we look young, doesn't mean we _are_ young. Has your Guide explained about claiming studs yet? You'll need to know who not to try to chat up, plus the fact that neither you nor Fionn have them yourselves means you'll end up getting courted at some point." The teasing tone was back to Herne's voice, apparently he got over pique quickly.

Harry shook his head, he hadn't heard about claiming studs yet. But his attention was caught by Gideon as the Shadow Demon turned around and Harry could finally see just how much damage had been done during the match. Besides the burn on his shoulder, and a few claw marks on his back, there was a long gash along the outside edge of the top of his left wing. He had more cuts and bruises across his torso, and a burn on his right side just over his ribs. He hadn't looked like he'd gotten this badly hurt during the match, but everything had happened so fast...

"It's not normally this damaging, but that Storm Demon has a grudge against me. I'll be fine, just need a trip to the Healer's and time to heal up."

Harry just nodded, but Fionn tilted his head to the side and then looked up at Harry. He wiggled his fingers slightly and looked like he was asking Harry something wordlessly. Thinking back to the visit to Fred and George and the strange healing Fionn had done, Harry wondered if he was being asked permission to do it again.

"Whatever you want Fionn, it's fine. Remember, you don't have to ask permission for everything anymore." Harry said softly.

The Fae stared at him a moment longer, and then slowly pulled away from Harry's side. Moving carefully towards the Warriors with his eyes on the floor, he finally came to a stop before Gideon.

"Well hello there. Is there something you wanted to ask me?" Fionn didn't answer and Gideon looked puzzled then glanced towards Harry to find out what was going on. But before anyone could speak, Fionn had raised his right hand up to the burn on the Warrior's side, and it was glowing that faint golden color again. Seconds later the burn was gone, Fionn moved his hand to the gash in Gideon's wing and that too vanished. As he went to circle around to get the burn on Gideon's back, the shock seemed to finally wear off the Warriors.

Gideon moved and quickly grabbed Fionn's wrist, gently but strong enough to stop him from continuing. Fionn's eyes went wide, and then he dropped to the floor, trying to assume the kneeling posture Harry hadn't seen in almost a week. His head was bowed and his body was limp where it dangled from Gideon's grip. The Shadow Demon for his part, was shocked enough by the submissive posture he released Fionn's wrist and just stared a moment as the Fae curled into a ball at his feet.

"He was trying to help you! Why did you have to grab him like that? It took _weeks_ to get him to the point where he'd actually speak and not cringe the moment anyone looked at him." Harry's temper rose and he hurried forward, glaring at Gideon the whole time. When he touched Fionn's shoulder, the Fae flinched then allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and moved back across the room from Gideon and Herne. He trembled slightly as Harry pulled him close, trying to calm him down.

"I did not mean to frighten him, had I known he would react in such a fashion I never would have touched him. But that healing... it is a very rare talent, and you should not allow him to do it with virtual strangers. You have no idea what would happen if the wrong people were to find out he can heal with a touch. Being mated would be some protection, but even then there are those who would not hesitate to kidnap him and force him to use his gift as _they_ willed." Gideon's voice was low, as though he did not wish anyone outside those in the room to hear him, but Harry could also hear no false notes in it. He seemed to be telling the truth.

Harry just nodded silently, his eyes watching both Warriors warily. He'd wondered about the healing Fionn had done, Healer Tristan hadn't shown anything like it, but then Harry hadn't been wounded so he hadn't known for sure if it was normal or not.

"Claiming studs are visible proof that someone is mated." Herne spoke up, he hadn't moved during the healing or after, and it was clear he was trying to change the subject to bring the tension in the room back down to a bearable level. "Each mate has a stud that represents them embedded into the wing, or ear if the mate has no wings, of their mate or mates. Demons have square studs, with a stone in the colors of their wings and engraved with their initials. My Airany is a Water Demon, and this is her stud."

Slowly extending his right wing, he pointed to the square stud embedded an inch from the top of the wing, near the mid point. Beside the blue and white square stud, was a purple oval stud.

"The oval stud is Fiane's, she's a Fae and all Fae have oval studs. Incubi and Succubi have heart-shaped studs, Gargoyles are diamonds, and Djinn if one actually consents to mate with a Demon, are represented by teardrop-shaped studs. The studs for non-Demons are colored based on the color of their magic. For Fae, Incubi and Succubi, you can get an idea of their magic color from their hair and eye colors. They're embedded into the tops of the wings, or the ears, to make them easy to spot. If a given mateship has decided they do not wish to add any more to it, they can have a gold star embedded after the last mate stud. This is to let others know they are not interested and wish to be left alone. Any who do not have that stud are presumed to be open to being courted."

"You may have noticed your wings are extra-sensitive to some people and not others. This is one way to tell who might be compatible, both to your magic and your current mates if you have any." Gideon looked slightly uncomfortable, but Harry wasn't sure if it was because of the topic of conversation, or because he had only just stopped glaring at the Warrior.

"It's not full proof though, things are always changing. Someone who may not be compatible now, may go through a change in the future that makes them compatible. And the same goes for the opposite, unless they are already mated to you, or have bonded to you or one of your mates prior to being fully mated." Herne continued.

"I see. That's interesting, and thank you for explaining. But I think I need to get Fionn home now, I don't want him to regress any further than he's already done." Harry was once again holding Fionn against his side, running soothing fingers along the Fae's back. It was a good sign that Fionn hadn't tried to resume his position on the floor, but he wasn't as calm as he had been before the healing and Harry wanted to get him back to Ash's before anything else happened to undo all the progress that had been made.

"If you tell me where you're living, I'll take you. Gideon should go check in with the Healers, they'll wonder if he doesn't stop by and would have especially been curious if he didn't have anything beyond minor damage after a fight like that." Herne said lightly, trying to explain without actually saying it outright, that that had been the reason Gideon had stopped Fionn.

Harry looked at the Warriors a moment, but then shrugged. It wasn't like he would be able to easily find his way back himself, and it would be faster if someone who knew the area showed him the way. "Ash's house is 1619 Cirrus Court."

"Air district, not surprised. That isn't actually too far from here, it won't take long to get you two home. Come on, we can go out this door and avoid the crowds." Herne headed for the door in the back of the room, opposite the one they had used to get in there in the first place.


	11. The Shadow of the Realm

Harry and Fionn hadn't even been home for two minutes when Ash breezed past them, giggling quietly to herself. Placing a violin on the side-table and then dropping a miniature bridge carelessly on the chair beside it, she finally seemed to notice they were standing there.

"Hello! I need to go get cleaned up, and then drop that off. After I'm done, we can catch up on what you two have been doing. Back in a bit!" Ash bounced off down the hall, leaving Harry and Fionn blinking in her wake.

They weren't sure what 'that' was, as her gesture was too vague, so it could have meant the violin, bridge, or both. Was she a secret musician? Ash didn't really strike Harry as the violin-playing type, but then again, he couldn't figure out how the bridge worked into the equation either. Picking up a book, Harry sat down on the sofa and Fionn quickly curled up next to him with his head in Harry's lap. Harry idly pet the Fae's hair while he read, ignoring the clingyness being displayed as he knew it was due to what had happened with Gideon. Ash hurried past them once again, now wearing a different set of clothes, and obviously fresh from a shower. She grabbed the violin, wrapped it in a large piece of black cloth, and was out the door again with only a quick wave over her shoulder to acknowledge them. Harry shook his head and laughed quietly, his new life was strange to say the least, but at least it was never boring with Ash around.

When Ash finally returned, Fionn was asleep and Harry had nearly finished the book he was reading. She flopped down on a chair across from them and beamed happily.

"So what have you two been up to while I was gone?"

"Not a whole lot, we went to the park a few times, and wandered around town, read and sat around the house. Nothing interesting really..." Harry wasn't about to tell her he'd seen a cage match, not after the way Herne and Gideon had behaved when they found out he had gone _without_ Ash. Three lectures in one day? No thank you!

"If I'm not totally off, your Healer's appointment is in two days, right? Or is it tomorrow?"

"No, it's in two days. I hope Healer Tristan has been able to figure out how to remove the brand and the binding on my Demon abilities..." Harry frowned slightly, then decided he wasn't going to think about that right now. There was nothing he could do about it after all, though that did remind him that he should stop by the Gringotts branch in the Realm and see if there was any word on what was happening with his accounts. It had only been three mortal days or so, but he could hope that he'd get answers about everything soon. Speaking of answers, his eyes fell on the miniature bridge again.

"Ash... why is there a miniature bridge on the chair? And what's up with the violin? I didn't know you played an instrument?"

Ash fidgeted a bit and chewed her lip, obviously trying to decide about telling him something. "I suppose since you're living with me for who knows how long, I'm going to have to explain sooner or later... but I'm going to have to get your Oath that you won't tell anyone else what I'm going to tell you." She looked as serious as she had before she left, when she told him to stay out of trouble. Harry was curious about what she could have to tell him that could be so important she had to ask him to take an Oath on it. But he trusted her, she had not lied to him once since he met her, and she had done her best to take care of both him and Fionn... Pulling out his wand, he sat up straighter.

"I, Harry James Potter do swear on my magic that I will not tell anyone what Ash is about to tell me without her permission. So mote it be." A bright flash of light appeared briefly from his wand, encompassing him before it vanished again. So used to Fionn being around, he had almost forgotten the Fae was sleeping in his lap until he spoke in a soft voice.

"I swear by Oona and Finvarra not to reveal what Ash is about to tell us without her permission." A soft golden light surrounded Fionn and then winked out again.

Ash nodded, still looking quite unlike her normal bubbly self. "I thank you for your Oaths, and assure you they were needed. If anyone were to find out what I do, it could mean my life. I doubt you will have heard of me yet Harry, since you haven't lived among us for very long. But I am known as the Shadow of the Realm."

Fionn sat up straight with a soft gasp, his golden eyes wide. "_You're_ the Shadow?"

Ash blushed faintly and inclined her head. "I am." Turning back to Harry she considered how to explain. "I am what you might say, one of the best and worst kept secrets in the Realm. Almost everyone has heard of me, but only a very few know who I am. Including the two of you, there are only four people who know my secret. One of them is Pepper."

"I don't understand. What do you mean, you're the Shadow of the Realm?"

"She's the best thief there is. No one's ever caught the Shadow, and she's never failed a job. Not that I've ever heard." Fionn answered Harry, his eyes never leaving Ash's face.

"So you stole a violin and a bridge for someone? But the bridge is still here, and how do you get jobs and paid, not to mention how do they get their stuff if no one knows you are the Shadow?" Harry was still a bit confused, and while he didn't agree with stealing, it wasn't really his place to lecture Ash about her life choices. Especially as she seemed to know exactly how dangerous her situation was.

Ash laughed and shrugged one shoulder. "Well... technically only the violin was requested. But it was too _easy._ I mean, anyone could have stolen that thing. I agreed because it's the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius Violin, it was made by one of the Fae in 1727 and later stolen by a mortal. I don't steal indiscriminately, I only agree to jobs that either test my skills, or bring back something that was stolen from one of us in the first place. But a lot of copy-cats are out there, and some of _their_ jobs have been laid at my doorstep. Can't really disprove those without letting everyone know that I'm the Shadow. Hence needing your Oaths. As for how I get the jobs and how I get paid, Pepper and another friend have a... kind of a mail drop set up for me. If someone wants to hire me, they leave a message in the drop box, I pick it up and if it interests me and pays enough, I accept. I leave the item in the drop after they've left the money and no one finds out I'm the Shadow."

"That sounds risky for Pepper and the other person. What if someone goes after them? If they operate the drop, they'd have to know who you are." Harry frowned, he didn't think Ash would put her friends at risk, but it didn't sound safe for them at all either.

"It would be. But it's a magical drop box. Anything put into it gets transported to a drop box here in the house. So they can honestly say that they just rent out the space for the box. I have fail safes on the boxes, both here and in my friend's businesses. Nothing harmful or with any kind of tracker can enter the box."

"And the bridge?"

Ash squirmed a moment. "Well... the violin was too easy as I said. I expected it to be worth my time, but the owner was an old lady who was dying in a hospital in New York. No alarm system, magical or otherwise. It was _boring!_ So I stopped by Russia on the way home and stole a bridge. It was _much_ more fun and difficult than the violin! And can you just imagine the looks on the mortals faces when they arrive and the bridge is gone?" She burst out laughing and bounced a little in her chair, green eyes dancing with mischief.

Harry could only shake his head, yeah, that sounded _exactly_ like the Ash he knew. She was the only person he could think of that would go from New York to Russia just to steal a bridge, and call it 'on the way home.'

Sobering after a few moments, Ash leaned forwards in her chair. "I don't expect anything to happen, but if anything ever _does_, and you haven't found a mate yet, go to Pepper. She'll know how to help me if I need it, and she can protect the two of you. She's actually quite high in the Succubus hierarchy, so no one will touch you if you have to go under her protection. But I've been doing this for hundreds of years, no one has caught me yet, so I doubt you'll have to worry."

AN:

So, the Davidoff-Morini Stradivarius Violin is a real stolen artifact. It was stolen in 1995, from a sick woman in New York. Her family never told her as she died soon thereafter. It has never been found. Also in that year, _three_ bridges were stolen in Russia. Also never found. It totally struck me as an Ash thing to steal because she was bored/frustrated. *snickers* This fic is taking place in Harry's 6th year, so 1996, but I liked the idea of the violin and bridge being stolen so am using them anyway. Oona and Finvarra are the Queen and King of the Fae, according to Irish Folklore. I have not yet decided if they will be in the fic as more than just a mention, but it fit to have Fionn swear by them. Next chapter will be the Healer's visit, not sure what else if anything. If there is something _you_ would like to see happen, drop me a comment. I may use it if it fits in with my plans for the rest of the fic. 


	12. Another Healer's Visit

Harry was woken early on the morning of his Healer's appointment by the feeling of being watched. He tried to ignore it as he was still sleepy and the bed was warm and cozy. But eventually he cracked open one eye and tried to figure out if Ash was about to play a trick on him. She had been having _way_ too much fun with the products she had purchased from Fred and George's shop. Luckily for him, she was just as likely to prank unsuspecting strangers as she was to do so to Harry himself.

Not seeing Ash anywhere in his line of sight, he finally sighed and sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes free of sleep as he did so. When he opened them again and looked around, he was surprised to see Fionn sitting at the foot of the bed with a pad of notebook paper and a pencil. The Fae dropped his eyes and fiddled with the pencil for a moment nervously before smiling shyly at Harry.

"Good morning. I didn't mean to wake you..."

"It's okay, I would have had to get up soon anyway. And better you waking me than Ash!" He laughed and then covered a yawn with one hand.

"What are you up to this morning?"

Fionn glanced back down at the notepad, and then slowly reached out and tore the top sheet off of it. He looked at it for a moment longer before holding it out to Harry. "It's not very good, but I don't have anything else to give right now..."

"You don't have to give me anything Fionn, we've been over this. You are not a slave anymore, I freed you and you can be your own person again." Harry looked down at the paper in his hands, and then he blinked and looked again. It was _quite_ good. Maybe better if it wasn't on lined notebook paper, but he could easily tell that at some point in the past the Fae had been an artist of some kind. The sketch was of Harry, wind blowing through his hair and wings half-spread with a smile on his face as he looked at something off in the distance.

"I know, but I wanted to give you something... do you like it?" Fionn still looked nervous, the pencil rolling between his fingers.

"This is really good, were you training to be an artist?"

The Fae shook his head, glancing down at his lap shyly. "No, not exactly. I was apprenticed to a tattooist and only had another year left before I could start my own shop. Making your own designs is part of the job so I had to learn to draw."

"Is that something you would like to try to get back into?"

"I...don't know. Maybe?"

"Are you two up yet? We need to hurry if you want breakfast before your Healer's visit Harry!" Ash bounced into the room and stood halfway between the door and the bed, totally oblivious to what she had just interrupted.

"I know, and if you'll get out, I can get dressed." Harry rolled his eyes fondly at her. She was annoyingly cheerful, and sometimes exasperating, but he found that the longer he was around her, the more she was growing on him.

They were shown into what looked like the same room they had entered the last time, and Harry once again took up his position on the edge of the exam table. Ash had of course stolen the chair, but at least this time Fionn wasn't kneeling at Harry's feet. The Fae had leaned against the wall near Ash, though he watched Harry from under his fall of hair. It wasn't long before Healer Tristan hurried into the room, he smiled at the three of them and then approached Harry.

"Well, I'm afraid I have both good news and bad news in regards to the brand and the binding on your magic. Which would you like to hear first?"

"Uh, the bad news I guess..." Harry's stomach twisted itself up as he worried that the bad news was that the Healers couldn't remove the binding.

"Well, the bad news is in two parts... The first part is that from what we have been able to decipher from the brand and the magic surrounding it, it would appear that not only is there a binding on your Demon abilities, there seems to be a kind of...well, there's a soul component as well. We're not sure if it is meant to switch your soul with another's, or if it has some other purpose. There's a Djinn we can consult, but only with your permission. He's one of the oldest Djinn in this area of the Realm and knows a lot of soul magics."

Harry just nodded, shocked speechless for a moment. As if his life hadn't been complicated _enough_ already, now his soul was potentially in danger as well? "And the second part?"

"Well, in order to remove the brand and the binding, we need to have access to the Wizard or Witch who cast them. They need to be physically in the room while we remove the magics so we can monitor both that person as well as you and be sure nothing is left of them on you. But since we don't know who did this, we'll need to send out trackers to find them. Do we have your permission to do that? The Warriors who go will have to be told why they're seeking, so they have some idea of the possible danger they'll be facing."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment and then nodded at Healer Tristan. "How will the Warriors be chosen? And how many will have to know?"

"That depends. We'll need at least one Shadow Demon as they're the best trackers. And depending on which one agrees, that will decide how many others know. Shadow Demon Warriors tend to have a group of two or more that they prefer working with, and we won't know how big that group is until we find one who will agree." Healer Tristan looked apologetic and spread his hands to show there really wasn't any better answer he could give them right now.

"Harry, Gideon?" Fionn spoke softly from his place near Ash.

Harry considered for only a moment and then nodded. "Can I request a particular Shadow Warrior? I actually know one already, though I only know his first name and the first name of one of his friends..."

"If we can figure out which Warrior he is from your description, I can send for him and ask." Tristan pulled out a small notebook and pen from his pocket, flipping it open to a blank page. "You said the Shadow Demon was named Gideon?"

"Yes. He has purple hair and grey eyes. He's always been in the company of an Earth Demon named Herne. Herne has brown hair and hazel eyes. And when I first met them, there was a third... I can't remember his name, but I think he was a Storm Demon and had black hair and light blue eyes...?" Harry frowned to himself, trying to remember the last Demon's name.

"You know Gideon Reed?" Tristan looked surprised, then quickly made a few more notes. "Which would make the Herne you spoke of Herne de Rossi, and their third is Laric Winters. Gideon and Herne are quite high in the ranks of Shadow and Earth Demons. If they agree, you won't have to worry about them finding your Wizard or Witch. They have a lot of experience in tracking down dark mages."

"Reed and de Rossi? No wonder they looked familiar, I'd never actually met them before Harry tried to run them down..." Ash laughed. "You never seem to do things by half, do you Harry?"

"Yeah, yeah. Story of my life." Harry made a face at Ash before turning back to Tristan. "If they're of such high rank that you knew them just by description, do you think they'll agree? I mean, would it be rude to ask in the first place?"

"It was the purple hair, as well as the names and Demon types that made identifying them easy. And it would not be at all rude Harry. They're Warriors for a reason, if hunting down people and bringing them back to face trial, or whatever else, wasn't something they wished to do, they wouldn't have become Warriors in the first place. And I won't know if they agree until I ask. If they don't agree, I'll send you a message and you can either pick another group if you know of one, or I can introduce you to a few and we can go from there." Tristan closed his notebook and smiled reassuringly at Harry.

AN: Since I've had a few questions on this, yes, Harry will be getting a Warrior mate. *grins* I had one in particular in mind, but the way my muse is running, I could be convinced to add in a 2nd one as well. Which would make 6 mates instead of 5 for Harry.

Also, new forum now created. You can find review replies and general chatter there, link is on my Profile.


	13. A Courtship Begun

They were once again in Ash's living room She had dragged them there after the Healer's appointment, saying that Harry needed to relax for a bit before doing anything else. Since arguing with Ash never worked, Harry didn't bother, he just did as he was told for the moment. Fionn was curled up against Harry's side on the couch, and was fiddling with one of the buttons on the cuff of his white silk shirt. He looked like he was in deep thought about something, so Harry chose not to bother him. The Fae would tell him what was on his mind at some point if it was important.

Ash herself was out picking up something for them to eat, Harry had no idea what she would bring back. Sometimes it was foods he was familiar with from the muggle or Wizarding worlds, and sometimes it was strange-looking dishes with stranger smells and spices that were unique to the Realm. So far, none of it had made him sick, but there were a few things he was never trying again. He dragged his thoughts back to the present when he felt Fionn sit up and turn towards him, though the Fae kept his eyes on his hands for another moment before he actually spoke.

"I-" He stopped and shook his head, frowned slightly and then looked up at Harry briefly before dropping his eyes again. "What do you think of me?"

Harry for his part, blinked and looked a little confused. He was beginning to think that he was living in a constant state of confusion, at least once a day if not more, something happened that he wasn't expecting and didn't know how to handle.

"What?"

"I mean...do you think of me as a pet? A friend? Something else, or nothing at all?" Fionn's voice was soft, but he actually managed to meet Harry's eyes by the last few words.

"You aren't a pet!" Harry reached out and put a hand over Fionn's to stop the Fae from twisting the button right off his sleeve. "You aren't a pet Fionn. And it's hard not to think of you when you're constantly with me. I'd like to think we were friends, even though we have only known each other less than a month. Why are you asking me this?" Harry couldn't read the emotion he saw in Fionn's eyes, it wasn't like anything he was used to having directed at himself, and wasn't any of the usual things he had seen so far out of the Fae. They were both so focused on the other, neither noticed Ash return, though for once she stood in the doorway watching in silence.

"I-" Fionn licked his lips nervously, but didn't drop his eyes from Harry's. "I want to Court you. You accepted my drawing this morning, will you allow me to Court you?"

Harry gaped in silence a moment, he had not expected anything like _this_ from Fionn. He wasn't even sure if he liked guys! "You want to _what?!_ You can't be serious! I mean, you're still getting over how that Djinn treated you, you can't possibly be ready or wanting anything like this!"

"I know what I want. I'm not the way I was, not yet, maybe never will be. But I know what I want." The Fae's voice was firm and a touch stubborn. He dropped his eyes and pulled his hand out from under Harry's, as though expecting to be rejected and kicked out of the house on the spot, but he didn't retract his statement.

As Harry opened his mouth to speak again, Ash finally spoke, her voice carrying and overriding his own. "Don't reject his Courtship unless you are _really_ sure you do not want him Harry. Once rejected, he must wait a minimum of three years before asking again. And that will be the final time he may ask. The Law was put into place to keep people from stalking others and making a nuisance of themselves."

"But I... but he... Ash! How can I accept?" Harry raked a hand through his hair, he didn't know _what_ he thought of the Fae. If he was honest with himself, he found Fionn attractive, how could he not? But a Courtship? He was only sixteen! The only experiences he had with dating were disasters, and there was so much he had to deal with right now between the lock on his Demonic abilities, his Gringotts vaults, and learning how to defeat Voldemort. Could he really add a Courtship into the mix?

"If he is whole enough to ask, and to _tell you_ that he knows he wants it, then he is whole enough to Court. The only thing you have to decide is if you are willing to allow it, and willing to see the Courtship through. You don't have to Accept him at the end, you may both find that you aren't suited after all. That's part of what the Courtship is about, getting to know each other. Plus, it lasts anywhere from three months to a year and a day. It will only end when both parties decide it does, or after a year and a day have passed since Courtship was accepted."

Harry glanced from Ash to Fionn, trying to understand why the Fae would have asked this of him in the first place. He couldn't think of any good reasons really, but every moment he hesitated on an answer, Fionn looked sadder. The Fae was picking at a stray thread in the knee of his jeans now, shoulders drooped and hair falling forward to obscure both eyes. He looked like a kicked puppy, and something inside of Harry twisted like it had done that first day he laid eyes on Fionn. He couldn't have left the Fae to his fate then, no more could he reject him now that he had had a little time to think about it. After all, as Ash said, they might not suit at all and he could always say no later...

He sighed softly. "All right. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to Accept and see where it goes..."

Fionn jerked his head up and stared at Harry a moment like he couldn't actually believe his ears, and then a smile spread across his face. It was the happiest Harry had ever seen the Fae, he literally looked as though he might be glowing from within.

"Requested and Accepted, your Courtship has begun." Ash spoke formally, as though she was reciting something sacred or from years past. As the last word left her lips, a glowing red ball of light shot past her and straight towards Harry where it hovered in the air about a foot from him.

"You have a message Harry. I wonder who it's from? Hold out your hand, palm up and cupped to receive the message. Once it touches you, you'll be able to hear it, but we won't unless it's a general message for everyone. The color of the light tells you who the message is for, mine was blue if you recall, since I'm Air, and yours is red for Fire."

Harry did as instructed, and slowly held out his right arm, palm up. The light shot towards him and touched down into his waiting hand, he couldn't feel anything more than a slight tickling sensation, and then the message began to play. It was like a muggle recording device he thought absently, it sounded exactly like Tristan, but there was no picture or anything else. Once it was done, the light winked out as though it was never there.

"Tristan wants to know if Gideon and his two friends can stop by, it seems they're having trouble picking out the magical signature from the casting he did before. Too many others have touched it trying to figure out how it works, and Gideon needs a clean trace to track."

"Ah of course. I had wondered how they were going to track down the person who did it. A moment..." Ash held out her right hand and snapped her fingers as she called up a whisper of wind, a few moments later a glowing white ball of light appeared hovering above her fingertips. "Message for Healer Tristan Hawthorne. You may send Gideon and his team to 1619 Cirrus Court. We will be waiting for their arrival." Flicking her fingers, she sent the message light on its way and started passing out the food she had brought back.

"Message lights aren't hard to create, but will most likely need to have your Fire abilities unlocked in order to manage them. All messages start out white, and then change after they are recorded and sent to their destination."

Harry just nodded, if it was something he couldn't use yet, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know all that much about it. There was too much useless information in his head as it was. He took a bite of the sweet and sour chicken and hummed softly in appreciation. He had never gotten to try much Chinese food before.

Just as they finished the last bites of food, a faint knock was heard from the front of the house. "You two stay put, I'll show the Warriors in. Though you might as well remove your shirt Harry since they'll need unobstructed access to that brand on your back." Ash bounced up and hurried off out the door as Harry stood up and stripped his shirt off. He was trying to ignore the way Fionn was watching him, as though now that he had the permission of Courting, he was less shy about studying Harry.

Ash was soon back with the three Warriors, the room felt much smaller now that they were there. Not only because they were tall, but their very presence was imposing.

"Thank you for allowing us into your home, we hopefully won't take up too much of your time." Gideon inclined his head to Ash and turned towards Harry, Herne and Laric flanking him. "May we please see the brand?"

Harry turned his back to the Warriors and spread his wings to get them out of the way as well. He was now facing Fionn fully, and watched the Fae's face curiously as Fionn in turn watched the Warriors' every movement. A moment later he felt calloused fingertips lightly tracing the brand, and a slight tingle of magic. Then the fingers and presence were gone from behind him, but before he could do more than think about turning, another set of calloused fingertips were touching it. Followed by a third. The third set lingered a moment longer than the first two had, and Harry saw Fionn's eyes narrow and his chin come up slightly before the fingers withdrew.

"My apologies, I meant no intrusion on your mateship." Harry turned to see Laric speaking, but he was speaking directly to Fionn. Giving a formal bow, with one hand over his heart, he continued speaking. "The magics used are strange, but they also remind me of something from long ago. I was merely trying to remember, but it is still escaping me. Please forgive me, I meant no harm to you or him."

Gideon and Herne were watching the exchange, Herne looked more curious than anything, but Gideon looked as though he was hoping he didn't have to step into the middle of a fight.

Fionn tilted his head a little and his hair fell to obscure his right eye as usual, but he finally gave a slightly stiff nod of his head. "Apology accepted. No harm was done, no harm was intended. The Courtship has barely begun." His voice too had a formal note, as though they were speaking phrases learned long ago as children by rote. Harry began to worry a little, was there something he was supposed to say? How was he going to learn this? And did he _need_ to learn this?

Gideon reached out and touched Laric on the shoulder before jerking his head towards the door. The Storm Demon turned and left with Herne following him. "Thank you for allowing us to get a better reading on the trace, the sooner we get started on the tracking, the sooner we can capture the one who did this and get it all removed. I promise we will find him or her, and bring them back little one." The Shadow Demon bowed his head to each of them and then strode off after his companions.

AN:

So my muse was over-active, and you get a new chapter after only a day. Aren't you all lucky? *laughs* This should help answer the "what about Fionn" question I've been getting...

Next chapter will feature Gringotts and what has been going on with Harry's accounts. Possibly more Fred and George as well, depending on how the chapter goes.

Also! I have made a forum for questions and chatter about the story, as well as review responses. It can be found on my profile.


	14. Lies Revealed

When Harry entered Ragnok's office this time, he saw a backless, long leather bench in front of the desk instead of chairs. He appreciated the goblin's thoughtfulness, and then wondered if that meant that he would be here for a long time... He took a seat on the bench and Fionn sat beside him with Ash looking at the books and nicknacks in the room. He also noticed the scorch marks had been removed from the walls, and that the torches were missing from their brackets. The upper portion of the walls, and the ceiling itself seemed to be giving off a soft glow. He supposed that was a good idea, not having any fire in the room so he couldn't actually burn anything down if he lost his temper again. Though it did beg the question of why the goblins didn't use this as a lighting source more often instead of torches.

"Hello again Mr. Potter. I am not quite done with my investigation, but have managed to uncover enough to get us started. It seems the reason you have not been getting your statements was because they were re-routed to Albus Dumbledore. He claimed to be in loco parentis, because your muggle guardians could not possibly be expected to have enough understanding of the Wizarding world." Ragnok paused a moment and looked up from the report on his desk.

Harry remained silent and waited to see if there was more, so far it didn't seem all that bad. He'd rather the Dursley's not know that he had any money, they'd likely try to take it from him. But he didn't understand why Dumbledore hadn't told him anything about his other accounts, or even let him see the statements so he'd have some idea of what was happening.

"There have also been withdrawals into three separate accounts from your parent's main vault, starting from your eleventh birthday. The lists I have here claim that they were for clothing, vacations, a Quidditch match, extra tutoring..." Ragnok trailed off, interrupted by what could only be called a growl from Harry.

Harry clenched his hands into fists and closed his eyes, breathing deeply to try to contain his temper. Just because there was no fire in the room, and the fact he couldn't do much with Fire, didn't mean he could afford to lose his temper. There were still enough things in this room that could be burned to cinders after all. Fionn slid an arm around Harry's waist and leaned into his side, while Ash came up from behind him and gripped his shoulders, trying to help ground him. Finally after a long moment, Harry was able to speak, though he kept his eyes closed.

"I have _never_ gone on a vacation. Never gotten anything besides my cousin's cast-off clothing. Never had tutoring besides what my friend Hermione -a fellow _student_- gave me. And the only Quidditch match I have ever seen outside of the Hogwarts teams, was at the World Cup. Which was via an extra ticket Ron's dad had." His eyes finally opened, he would have been worried if he could have seen the flames dancing in his eyes, a sign of just how close he was to losing control over his Fire. "Where have those payments gone, and can they be reversed? I never got any of that stuff, so this person or people shouldn't get paid for it."

"I can reverse the charges, but not all of the money is still in their accounts. There is a law in place regarding fraud, with your permission I can have their assets seized up to 30% past the amount stolen. The goblin who was in charge of your accounts and allowed this to happen has already been dealt with. I have taken temporary control, but you are welcome to choose a new account manager at any time."

"Who received the payments Ragnok?"

The goblin carefully met Harry's eyes. "Albus Dumbledore. Molly Weasley, and Ron Weasley. They have been getting payments every year since you were eleven, Albus and Molly receiving the most. We froze your accounts in time to avoid the payment for this year, but are expecting to hear from Albus Dumbledore anytime now to find out why the money hasn't been transferred."

Harry's claws were biting into the flesh of his palms now, but he barely felt the pain. His _best friend_ had been taking money from him for _years!_ He couldn't understand it. Ron had always been jealous of his fame, and money, but he had truly thought that they were friends. After everything they had been through together, he couldn't believe Ron would have done this to him. And Molly had always treated him as one of her own! He'd finally thought he knew what having a mother was like when he stayed with them at the end of every summer. But... if he could have been so wrong about them, what about the other Weasley's? Hermione? Did he have _any_ real friends? He shook his head, he couldn't deal with that right now. Now, he had to concentrate on his accounts, he could deal with finding out who was really his friend later.

"Can you put Dumbledore off for a bit? Long enough for me to look into a few things?"

The goblin smiled, it was filled with entirely too many teeth. "I can tell him there was an accident with your account manager, and that we are doing a small audit of the last few months while a new manager is appointed. It will even be mostly true."

"Please do so. I'll get back to you as soon as I can about what I want done about the thefts." Harry stood, he didn't want to deal with anymore of this right now. He knew he would _have_ to deal with it of course, but he was too upset to think as clearly as he would like. So it would be better to come back another day. As they moved towards the door, a goblin came in and quickly bowed to Ragnok.

"Excuse me for the intrusion sir. But there are two people waiting to talk to Mr. Potter. They say he told them to come to us if they needed him."

"Did they give you their names?" Ragnok asked the other goblin.

"They said they were Fred and George Weasley, sir."

Ragnok looked to Harry. "Do you wish to see them Mr. Potter? I can have them shown here if you wish."

Harry paused. Up until today, he would have said he trusted the twins with his life. But, he would have said that about Ron before today as well. Were the twins in on it? Did they know Molly and Ron were stealing from him? He went to rake a hand through his hair, but Fionn suddenly grabbed it and turned his hand palm up. He only had a moment to see the blood dripping from his palm before the Fae had put his own hand over it and healed it. Then he took Harry's other hand and did the same for it. Fionn lightly touched Harry's cheek with the fingertips of one hand, the other hand still holding Harry's own. The Fae was the only one Harry had ever met who could say so much without words, and it constantly amazed him how he could understand the words not said. At least most of the time. Finally looking away from that golden gaze, he turned back towards Ragnok.

"I.. Yes. If you wouldn't mind?"

The other goblin left, but Harry didn't go back to the bench. He stood silently with Fionn as Ash came up behind him again. Finally Fred and George were shown into the room, they looked worried, but the relief that came to their eyes when they saw Harry and the others was hard to miss.

"Harry! Thank Merlin! I know you said you'd be quick, but we didn't expect you _this_ fast!" Fred laughed, though it sounded a little strained.

"I was already here, talking to Ragnok. He's my account manager. Ragnok, this is Fred and George Weasley." Harry was trying to act mostly natural, but he kept a close eye on Fred and George when he said 'account manager' to see if they showed any signs of worry.

Ragnok for his part looked slightly surprised and then pleased to be told he was keeping control of Harry's accounts. "Messrs Weasley."

Fred and George quickly bowed their heads to Ragnok. "A pleasure to meet you." Neither one so much as blinked at the introduction.

"Harry, Dumbledore came by the shop a bit ago."

"He said he was looking for you, that he knew you weren't at the Dursley's and had been to see us." George added.

"Yeah, he seemed really mad about something, and didn't believe us when we told him we had no idea where you were."

"Even though it's technically true. Never having been to the Realm and all."

"We don't know what's going on, but Lee is watching over the store for us. We think it might be a good idea to lay low for a while." Fred looked at Harry. "So we wanted to let you know we weren't going to be at the shop or the Burrow, in case you decided to drop by again."

Harry looked between the two, they weren't acting guilty, and if he had been right all along and they really _were_ his friends and knew nothing about the thefts, he didn't want to leave them here where Dumbledore could get to them.

"Did you know Molly, Ron and Dumbledore were stealing from me?" He spoke in a rush, before he could lose his nerve.

Fred and George stared at him in shock a moment and then nearly tripped over their own words before speaking in tandem.

"What?!"

"No!"

"Why would.."

"We had no idea Harry. None at all." They met his eyes and he could see no hint of dishonesty there, just shock and a little bit of anger.

"If we had known we would have told you about it ourselves. I can't believe they'd do that to you, after everything you've done for our family!" Fred approached and grabbed Harry's free hand, Fionn was still holding the other and didn't look like he was going to release it anytime soon.

"I swear on my magic Harry, I had no idea they were doing that." A brief flash surrounded Fred and then was gone.

George followed his brother and touched Harry on the shoulder. "I swear on my magic that I had no idea they were doing that." A brief flash surrounded him as well and then was gone.

And with it went Harry's worry about them being in on it. His shoulders sagged slightly and he looked up at them with relief in his eyes. "You have _no_ idea how glad I am to hear that. Do you think your Dad or the rest of the family knew?"

Fred and George looked at each other a moment and then shook their heads. "No idea. We can't imagine Dad, Bill or Charlie being in on it, but the only way to know for sure is to ask them."

"All right. We won't worry about that right now then." He turned towards Ash. "Mind another two roommates for a while?"

Ash rolled her eyes and pretended to pout. "What is this? A boarding house?" She gave a theatrical sigh. "I suppose I could live with them for a while...but you know they can't live in the Realm forever. It does strange things to mortals, it's not really safe for more than a few weeks." Her green eyes were serious as she said the last.

"Then we'll have to figure out a way to make it safe for them to return quickly, won't we?" Harry looked back to Fred and George. "Want to take a vacation to the Realm?"

"Really? Wicked!" They said as one, both looking excited and ready to wreck mischief on an unsuspecting realm.

AN: Remember, review replies can be found in the forum. And the forum is linked on my Profile here.


	15. Confessions

They'd arrived back in the Realm just after dark, Fred and George had been a little disappointed that they couldn't see much, but Harry thought it was just as well. He'd much rather go home and try to get his mind around all the things he'd learned today, instead of haring off after the twins as they rampaged their way through the Realm. Though, that could be fun later, just not right now.

Ash gave Fred and George the room beside Harry's, the one that was supposed to be for Fionn, but the Fae had never used it. Harry supposed that since Fionn was Courting him now, he _should_ be using it. But after this long of sleeping in the same bed, and always just being there, it would feel too weird _not_ to have the Fae around. Not to mention that would mean Fionn would have to bunk with the twins as Ash only had those two extra rooms. And he wasn't sure the Fae would forgive him for that.

As he crawled into his bed, he was a little surprised that the twins hadn't said anything about Fionn sharing his room, but it was just barely possible they hadn't noticed. Or perhaps they were taking pity on him, and all the teasing would begin in the morning. He wasn't going to think about it right now. He knew he was doing that a lot -not thinking-, but so much had been happening it was overwhelming. Hermione wouldn't let him get away with it, but so far none of the others had called him out on it... He fell asleep with Fionn curled up by his side, mentally reminding himself to get in touch with Hermione. He needed to know who's side she was on.

He woke early the next morning to twin shouts in his ears and the covers being yanked off as the bed bounced wildly. Jerking upright, his wings snapped out and he called Fire to dance along the fingertips of one hand as he made sure Fionn was close enough to protect with the other. He heard a startled _eep!_, and his sleep-hazed mind tried to wake up more fully and catch up to what was going on. He was in the Realm, at Ash's house, and Fred and George had come back with them last night...which meant he most likely wasn't actually under attack. Or at least, not the kind where he needed to have called Fire...

"Remind me not to sneak up on Harry again Gred."

"Yeah, that was a bit on the scary side Forge...but can you see our sales if we could make a candy that let you have flames coming out of your fingers?"

"Oh _yeah..._ We'd have to figure out how to get the flames to not burn anything, but I think we could manage that if we use-"

"Was there a _reason_ you woke me up guys, or did you just get that bored?" Harry sighed and closed his hand, the flames winking out as though they had never been. Fionn grumbled under his breath and rubbed his eyes, leaning against Harry's side, the Fae's hair rumpled both from sleep and the wake-up call they had just gotten.

"We were _bored_, and want to go see the Realm! You promised to show us around today, remember?" Fred whined, peering out from behind the desk where he and George had scrambled to take cover.

"Yeah and... Hey, why is Fionn in your bed? Did we interrupt more than just _sleep?_" George snickered.

"Why don't _we_ get to sleep in your bed if he does? I claim tonight!"

Harry covered his eyes with a hand and took a deep breath, but before he had actually figured out what he was going to say, he felt Fionn sit up. The Fae was no longer leaning on him, but was still close enough their arms brushed lightly.

"Courtship has special privileges. You will have to wait your turn." Fionn spoke softly still, but his tone was firm. And then he went still and dropped his head slightly, looking up at Harry from under his lashes as though he wasn't sure he was allowed to have spoken.

Harry patted Fionn's hand and turned back to the twins. "Uh, well. Ash only has two guestrooms, she gave me this one when we got here and I wasn't about to put Fionn in with you. And... yeah... Fionn is Courting me..." He trailed off, not exactly sure how to explain Courtship. It was also a little uncomfortable to be getting into all this while sitting in his bed wearing nothing but his boxers.

"Wait, you're Courting? Like the whole engaged-to-be-married kind of Courting?" Fred's eyes were wide as he looked between Fionn and Harry.

"Kind of?" Harry ran a hand through his hair and tugged it a bit.

"Courtship in the Realm starts with an acceptance of a gift. And then formal acceptance of the Courtship. After which the couple or current mateship get to know the potential mate. When the Courtship ends, if the potential mate is accepted, we exchange claiming studs. Which is sort of like marriage and wedding rings in your realm." Fionn looked at his hands while explaining, voice still that soft careful tone.

Harry wondered if he would ever be whole enough to act and speak the way he did before he was indentured. Or if this _was_ the way he had been before? Sometimes Harry saw glimpses that made him sure the Fae wasn't always like this, but he didn't know if Fionn would be able to get past what had been done completely.

One of the twins whistled, Harry hadn't been paying attention to them, so missed just which one had done it.

"Didn't know you were into blokes Harry."

"Yeah. Doesn't bother us any of course, but m-" George stopped suddenly and blushed faintly. "I mean, Gin will be disappointed. She always thought you two were going to marry someday. Had your wedding planned out since she was seven."

Harry was sure George had been about to say "mum", and then remembered what they'd learned yesterday. He was grateful the twin had remembered and changed his sentence, but it still hurt thinking about Molly.

"I doubt she'll be all that upset. She's been dating Seamus for a while now. Or hadn't you noticed? But as much as this has been fun, I'd kind of like to get a shower and dressed soon. _Without_ you two in here. Meet you in the sitting room later and we can go for breakfast and then a tour? Ash doesn't cook, so most of our meals are had while we're out."

Fred and George hurried out telling Harry to hurry up already then, leaving Harry and Fionn alone. Harry's wings were twitching a bit in agitation from his thoughts as he sat on the bed another moment. Fionn watched him silently, and then reached out and lightly ran a hand down the closest wing soothingly.

"Shower and dress. Think later, when you can _do_ something about it."

The touch was a surprise, it sent tingles down his spine and made him feel warm all over. It wasn't as strong a reaction as when Fred and George had been touching him that day, but it was stronger than it had ever been with Fionn before. And it could easily be less because of being only one person and one hand, instead of two people and three hands. Could this really work? He'd been thinking mostly to just humor Fionn, he hadn't really thought anything would come of the Courtship. The Fae was too broken in Harry's mind after all. But if he was compatible... Harry vaguely remembered what Herne had said about magic and compatibility in regards to his wings being sensitive to touch.

So lost in thought was Harry, that he hadn't noticed Fionn leave the bed or get dressed. When the Fae approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder however, his attention snapped back to the present.

"Shower and dress. Your friends won't be patient long."

"Yeah. Okay, I'm going. Sorry, too much to think about today." Harry shrugged and then gathered his clothes and took the bundle into the bathroom with him.

Fionn headed for the sitting room, he could hear one of the twins talking to Ash in a loud, excited voice. But he didn't bother to listen, he just headed for the couch and sat down at one end. Shortly after he was settled, one of the twins came into the room alone.

"I'm George if you're wondering." George grinned slightly and flopped down in a chair a few feet from Fionn. "So... Courting huh? We never expected Harry to think about that kind of stuff until after the War. I mean, he dated, but always said they were disasters."

Fionn studied George in silence a moment, before finally speaking. "I asked, he Accepted."

"But isn't he a little young? I mean, no offense to you or anything. If Harry accepted then he must have good reason, see something in you and all. But... Ash said you guys are immortal? And Harry's only sixteen. Why ask him now?"

Fionn dropped his eyes to a spot on the floor, one hand lightly traced designs on the armrest of the couch. When he finally spoke, his voice was a bit softer than usual, and he never looked up at George. "I'm twenty-five, not that much older in immortal terms. And..." He paused a moment before taking a breath. "You've seen him. How everyone seems to gather around and follow him. Everyone likes him, he's powerful as a Wizard, when his blocks are gone, he'll be a powerful Demon too. All mates in a mateship have to approve new potentials, or they don't get accepted after Courtship."

He finally looked up at George. "Can you see anyone accepting me if I was not the first in his mateship? I know..." He looked away again. "I know I'm broken, and that he deserves better. But I love him, I had to try while I had a chance. Any chance at all." A single tear rolled down Fionn's cheek.

"Bloody hell! Don't cry! Harry'll tear me a new one if he thinks I made you cry! You can't be that broken or Harry never would have accepted the Courtship. He's like that, won't take advantage of anybody. We saw how he always knew where you were, kept an eye on you during his visit and yesterday too." George looked quickly towards the archways that led off into the rest of the house, no one was coming yet, so he had time before he ended up dead.

Fionn chocked a small laugh. "He won't kill you. If you were one of us, he'd probably accept you and your twin into his mateship before he accepted me. The only thing stopping him is your mortality, and his obliviousness."

George blushed a bit. "Uh, I don't know what you're talking about. Harry isn't interested in me or Fred. Besides, what does our being mortal have to do with anything? I mean, yeah, we'll die and you lot won't, but..?"

"Humans can't live here. I don't know why exactly, but something in the magics that made the Realm... _twist_ them. If they stay more than a few weeks, sometimes less, they fade. If they don't leave at the first signs of fading, they're just...gone. Nothing left."

"Then we'll have to be sure to keep a close eye on Fred and George, to make sure that doesn't happen." Harry walked into the room in time to hear the last thing Fionn said. "So, ready to see the Realm in daylight?"

AN: Don't forget to check out the forum for review responses. Link is on my profile.


	16. Am I?

It was still early in the afternoon. They had spent the morning showing Fred and George around the park, and then as they were leaving there and on their way to introduce them to Pepper... It happened. Fred and George were talking with Ash, with Harry and Fionn a little ways behind them. A Succubus with electric green hair passed them, and then suddenly stopped and turned back. She headed straight for Fred and George.

"Ohhh... a matched set!" She circled them, one hand reaching out to brush down Fred's arm as she licked her lips. "Do tell me that you aren't Courting anyone." Her voice was practically purring the words, and even from a few feet away, Harry could feel the seduction pouring off her. Fred and George's eyes looked a little glazed, but Ash just looked bored and a touch annoyed as she looked at the Succubus.

"They're mortals."

"Oh pooh! No fun then." The Succubus wrinkled her nose like the twins had suddenly turned into something disgusting right before her eyes. But then she turned her attention towards Harry. "What about-"

Fionn's eyes narrowed and he touched Harry's arm. "Courting."

The Succubus gave a sniff and flounced off without another word. The glazed look was slowly leaving Fred and George's eyes, and they blinked rapidly a moment. "What just happened?" Fred looked around a little dazedly still and George just nodded.

"That was a Succubus. They use touch and their voice to ensnare others..." Ash's voice got fainter as she pulled the twins after her, heading down the street again.

Harry blinked a little and shook his head before focusing back on Fionn. "Are _all_ Succubi and Incubi like that?"

The Fae was still close to him, but now a bit more in front than beside Harry. "Mostly. The older ones are a bit more subtle." He reached out and smoothed Harry's shirt collar, and then glanced back at Harry.

For his part, Harry just smiled slightly. He was getting ready to say they should hurry and catch up to Ash before they got left behind, when Fionn leaned forward and gently kissed him. Harry froze. The kiss was soft and gentle, nothing like the few kisses he had received in the past. It was actually kind of...nice. But... he was also being kissed by another _male._ His brain freaked out a bit, he still didn't know if he even _liked_ guys that way! Before he'd met Fionn, he'd never even given the matter any thought. But now he was being Courted, and _kissed_ by a guy. He didn't know what to do, or think, and when his brain finally caught up and told him he should be doing _something_ besides just standing there, Fionn had already pulled back.

The Fae looked a little sad, but quickly dropped his eyes. "We should hurry before Ash forgets us." Was all he said, and then he was turning and hurrying off after the others. As he reached them, George glanced over and threw an arm around Fionn's shoulders, and then they all turned a corner and were lost to sight. Harry reached up and touched his lips, then shook his head and hurried after them. He couldn't fix anything right now, and didn't even know if he should.

They spent the rest of the day showing Fred and George the sights, and by the time they got home, everyone was tired. Ash went to bed early, Fionn soon followed her example, and shortly after that George did as well. Harry was just deciding to go to bed himself when Fred spoke.

"You hurt him you know?"

"I... what?" His brain wasn't working as well as it should, to tired and too much had happened in the last few days.

"Fionn. I don't know what happened exactly, and really, George is better at this stuff than I am. But he spent today cheering Fionn up, so I guess it's my job to point out that you screwed up." Fred's blue eyes were serious as he looked at Harry. It was something Harry had been noticing about both twins more lately, that they actually did have a serious side. At least some of the time.

"Er...yeah. I know. But he _kissed_ me Fred! I wasn't expecting that, and I still don't even know if I like guys. It's not like I'd ever hurt him purposely you know."

"He kissed you. Did you kiss him back? Because honestly, if you did and that was his reaction, you must be one bad kisser!" Fred laughed.

"No...I was a bit too surprised I guess. By the time I realized that he was kissing me, he'd stopped and then went to join you guys."

"So basically, Fionn kissed you and you did absolutely nothing? You just stood there? No wonder the poor guy was so hurt looking." Fred shook his head slowly. "You're Courting Harry. From what we've been told about that, it seems to be a pretty serious thing here. How could you _not_ expect him to kiss you at some point?"

Harry blushed brightly and raked a hand through his hair. "I don't know! I didn't really think about it, okay? I mean, I was going to say no when he asked me for permission to Court me. But Ash made this big deal about it, and he looked so hurt, I figured that if I said yes, he'd realize that it wasn't going to work at some point..."

"So basically, instead of hurting him once, and early on. You decided it would be better to lead him on, and hurt him a few times until he 'realized that it wasn't going to work'? That doesn't sound like the Harry I thought I knew."

"It's not like that! How am I supposed to even figure out if I'm gay?" Harry looked over at Fred, eyes pained. "The last thing I ever wanted to do was add to the hurt he's already gotten. But I don't know if I can..." He trailed off and shook his head.

"Pretend a moment that Fionn isn't a guy. What was the kiss like? Was it better or worse than the ones you've gotten from girls?"

Harry licked his lips nervously and closed his eyes in thought a moment. "It was...nice. Warm." His eyes opened and he looked at Fred. "I don't have much to compare it to... but it wasn't bad or anything. I just... what if it was a fluke or something? I mean, what if I never see him that way? Won't it hurt him more to respond now and then refuse him at the end of the Courtship?"

"What if you _do_ end up seeing him that way? Would that be so bad?" Fred slid closer on the couch they were sharing.

There was something in the way he looked at Harry that made the hair raise up on the back of his neck, like he was getting set up for a prank or something equally devious. "I...no. But if I go along with things, and then at the end it doesn't work out, wouldn't that be worse? Leading him on in that way?" Harry dropped his eyes, he didn't know if he liked guys, or Fionn, or what. And he couldn't believe he was having this conversation with _Fred_.

Fred reached out and lifted Harry's chin until Harry was looking him in the eyes again. And then, he leaned in and kissed Harry. Harry couldn't think, his mind just froze. Kissed by two guys in one day? What the hell was going on in his life? Fred's kiss was polar opposite of Fionn's. Where Fionn was soft and gentle, Fred was firm, and a bit demanding. He was in full control, and Harry was just along for the ride. And then, it was over. Fred was moving back, and Harry opened his eyes. He didn't even remember _closing_ them in the first place.

"George is going to kill me if he finds out about that. But at least you now have more references for comparison's sake." Fred grinned crookedly. "Well?"

Harry gaped a moment, and then shut his mouth with a click as his teeth met. "Uh... Fred?" His voice almost squeaked on the name, and he blushed brightly again.

Fred chuckled and tousled Harry's hair. "You said you hadn't kissed enough people to know, and kept going on about wanting to know if you were gay or not. If you liked both of today's kisses, you certainly aren't straight. Think about it, but I'm going to bed." He stood and stretched, yawning widely and then walked from the room like nothing had happened at all.

Harry just stared after him in shocked silence for a moment, and then touched his lips, mind whirling. He'd liked both kisses. More than he wanted to admit, but Fred wasn't interested in him. Had never given him any reason to think he saw him as anything more than a friend or surrogate little brother. So kissing someone who wasn't interested in him, was just as good as kissing someone who _was._ And both were better than the kisses he'd shared with girls in the past. But...did that really mean he was gay? He shook his head, thoughts still whirling in his head.

AN:

There you go, a chapter just for all the people who have been asking for more Harry/twins. *grins*

Also, there is now a Spoilers thread in the review forum for this fic. You can find the reviews forum in my Profile.


	17. Hermione

Harry was going to have to fix things with Fionn, and soon. The only problem was, he wasn't sure _how_ he was going to do it. The Fae was still sharing his room and bed, and wasn't outright ignoring him... but Harry could tell that things were not the way they had been, or the way they should be. Right now, everyone was gathered in Ash's sitting room. It had been decided that as Harry really needed to know where Hermione stood, that he and Ash would go visit her. Only this time they would need to do so much more carefully than when they had visited Fred and George. If she was still on Harry's side, he didn't want to alert Dumbledore to the fact that he was going to see her. He couldn't bring her to the Realm, Ash had no more space for people, and he was sure Hermione wouldn't want to leave her parents in any case.

Fred, George, and Fionn would be going back to the twins' flat to pick up a few things they had forgotten, as well as some items Fred and George wanted to tweak to see if they could make them work on those living in the Realm. Fionn's Fae talent was glamors, he would easily be able to disguise himself and the twins, and if anything went wrong, Fred or George could apparate them to Hermione's home. Harry didn't like the idea of them all splitting up, but had to admit it would be easier to sneak two people in, than five.

They all gathered into a close group, Harry to Ash's left with an arm around Fionn. Then Fred, then George, everyone holding onto the person next to them, with George on Ash's right. Ash called Air, and they were quickly in the twins' flat.

"Remember, don't stay longer than you have to. We'll meet you at Gringotts in an hour and a half."

"Yes mum!" Fred and George saluted Ash cheekily, and then dragged Fionn off.

"Children, no respect!" Ash mock-sighed. "All right Harry, one more charm and then we can be off." They were already wearing the glamor that hid their Demon attributes, but had decided that being invisible would be the best way to hide their visit from Dumbledore. Raising one hand palm-up, Ash called a whisper of Air and then blew lightly towards Harry. As it hit him, the Air warped the light around Harry, and he vanished from sight. Then Ash wrapped Air around herself, and vanished as well. Reaching out to where Harry had been standing, she managed to grab his arm and pull him towards herself, before calling up Air a final time and take them both to the street Hermione lived on.

Harry had never been there, but he knew what house number was hers, and from the description she had given of her home over the years, they were able to find the right house after only a few minutes. Being a Muggle house, there were no wards to deal with, and Ash simply called Air again to get them inside and upstairs. Harry poked his head in a few doorways, and finally found a room that looked like it should belong to Hermione.

Ceiling to floor bookcases on three walls, and a desk that was covered in more books, plus parchment and quills. Everything was done in a rich brown wood, with gold and cream accents.

"So what's the plan now? If we just wait here, she may not come in until after we have to go meet the others. And after all the work I went to in hiding us, walking around yelling for her isn't going to work either." As Ash spoke, the bed seemed to shift a little, and then one of the random lumps started to move towards them. As it reached the edge of the bed, there was a soft thump, and Crookshanks dropped to the floor. His fur fluffed out a bit and he glared around, like he _knew_ something was there, even if he couldn't see it.

"Quick! Drop the invisibility charm on me, Crookshanks can fetch Hermione for us."

Crookshanks began a low thrumming growl, his ears flattening to his head as he tried to find the source of the voices. As soon as Harry could see himself again, he knelt down and reached out a hand. "Easy Crookshanks, it's just me. You remember me, I didn't mean to startle you." The cat stared at him a moment longer and then slowly slunk forward to sniff his fingers. His fur smoothed itself out, as much as it was capable of, and his ears returned to their normal angle. "That's it. Nothing to worry about. I really need to talk to Hermione though, could you bring her up here for me? Please?"

A soft snort of laughter could be heard from over near the desk, Harry was sure Ash was laughing at him for talking to a cat. Crookshanks glared in the direction of the desk a moment, before walking past Harry and out the bedroom door. A short while later, he could hear yelling from downstairs, and then the sound of running feet coming up the stairs and towards the bedroom. Crookshanks nearly flew past him, carrying something in his mouth that Harry didn't get the chance to identify, before he shot under the bed. Harry quickly moved behind the door in case it wasn't Hermione chasing the cat, and a moment later a breathless Hermione ran into the room and slammed the door shut.

"Crookshanks! Give me that- Harry?!" Her wand was out and pointed at Harry before he had time to speak. "Harry Potter! Where have you _been?!_ You had us all worried! It's all well and good to send a note saying you're fine, but a little more information would have been nice. Like where you were going. _Why_ you were going. You know your relatives are the safest place for you to be during the summer!" As she spoke, she was advancing on Harry until he was backed up against the wall, her wand still waving about in his face.

"Er... Hermione."

"I was worried sick! What if the Death Eaters had found you!"

"Hermione."

"You could have been _dead_ and we wouldn't have known where to start looking for you!"

"_Hermione!_"

"What?!"

"Could you please stop waving your wand in my face? I can't really answer any questions if you don't give me time _to_ answer them."

Blushing brightly, Hermione slid her wand back up her sleeve. "I'm sorry Harry. I was just so worried about you!" And suddenly Harry had a face full of bushy hair as Hermione threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. Her shoulders shook slightly, and his neck was getting a little damp as he realized that she was crying softly.

He held her, at a slight loss about what to do. He glanced towards the desk, but Ash was no help, she was visible again and sitting in the chair laughing silently at him. "I didn't mean to worry you, it's just so much has happened so quickly... Oh, and please don't freak out, but I brought someone with me. I promise to explain what I can, but I need to ask you a few things first."

Hermione finally pulled back, her eyes were reddened and her face wet. She scrubbed at her face with one sleeve, holding onto Harry with her other hand as though she thought he was going to run off and leave her again. Looking around the room quickly, she spotted Ash sitting at her desk and frowned. "She's not a student. Who is she Harry? And what is going on?"

"That's Ash, she's my... guardian at the moment I guess. I really do need to ask you something before I explain any further Hermione. Please don't be mad?"

"Hurry up and ask so you can get to the explaining part then."

"I was talking to the Goblins, and found out that Dumbledore, Molly and Ron have been stealing from me for years. Please tell me you didn't know anything about that." Harry knew it would hurt if she had known, and sided with Dumbledore, but he hadn't realized just how _much_ it would hurt until he was standing there and talking to her again. She had been his best friend for years, and he considered her to be like a sister as well. Losing her would hurt, a lot, which was the main reason he had put off contacting her for so long.

Hermione stared at him in shock for a moment. "Are you sure Harry? I can't believe they would do something like that to you. Ron's your best friend!"

"I know. I couldn't believe it either. But Ragnok, he's my account manager, showed me statements going back to my eleventh birthday."

She shook her head and hugged him tightly again. "That's awful! Harry I had no idea! What are you going to do?"

"I haven't decided yet. A lot has been going on. On my birthday I came into-"

"Harry. Fred and George gave you Oaths, I know you didn't ask for them. But considering everything we've been learning, I think you should ask for one before you tell her anything else." Ash held up a hand as Harry started to protest. "I know she's your friend, and you want to trust her. But some of the stuff you are about to tell her will make her a bigger target if anyone thinks she knows. And I hate to say it, but you were wrong about that other boy..."

"No. She's right Harry." This time Hermione interrupted him as he tried to speak. "If Ron could lie for so long, it only makes sense that you be sure." She pulled out her wand again. "I, Hermione Jean Granger, swear that I knew nothing of what Ron, Molly or Dumbledore was doing with Harry's money." A glow surrounded her and then was gone. She put her wand away again and dragged Harry to sit on her bed. "Now, tell me what's been going on. Why did you leave?"

Harry took a deep breath and began the explanation. He'd been right, she wanted to know _everything_ about the Realm and the creatures that lived there. She asked so many questions, that the time flew by.

"Sorry, but we have to be meeting the others. I'll bring you back some other time Harry." Ash finally spoke.

"I have to go, but I promise I'll visit you again as soon as I can." Harry hugged Hermione and stood. "Remember, you can get in touch with me through Gringotts."

"I will Harry. But you better promise to write me and visit soon!"

"I promise!" Harry laughed, and then Ash was calling Air and they were gone.

AN: Sorry for the longer-than-usual delay in updates. Was fairly busy this week. Next chapter we finally get to know exactly what the brand does.


	18. It Does WHAT!

"Fionn, I'm sorry." The Fae continued buttoning his white silk shirt, though he darted a quick glance at Harry from under his fall of hair as he did so. "I know I haven't been approaching this Courting thing the way I should. But honestly, I didn't..." He stopped and shook his head, then started over. "I don't have any real experience with dating. I mean, I tried it twice, with girls, and it was... worse than bad. I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know if I _like_ guys. I mean, the kiss was better than with the girls, but does that mean anything besides that you're good at it?" He had almost said kiss_es_, and wouldn't _that_ have gotten him and Fred both in trouble!

Fionn finally looked at him, more than just a quick glance. He seemed to be considering something. "You think I'm a good kisser?"

"I-yes?" Harry blushed brightly and tried to look away, but the golden gaze wouldn't allow it.

"If this is going to work, you'll have to _try._ You don't have to...accept me... at the end, but you have to give it a chance to work." Fionn's voice was slightly pained, and softer than usual when he said 'accept me', but he continued on. "Will you do that? Will you try?"

Harry nodded silently, but Fionn didn't move or speak. "I can do that. I'll try." He had the feeling that he was going to have to prove his words at some point, and it was better to do it now, while they were still alone, than in front of the twins or Ash. He reached deep inside himself for some of the Gryffindor courage he was supposed to have, and then he approached the Fae. It was still weird, doing this kind of stuff with a _guy_, but he'd promised. Slowly he reached out and cupped Fionn's face in his hands, then he tilted his face up and _kissed_ the Fae. Fionn's eyes widened in surprise, and then they slowly fluttered closed. One hand steadied himself by resting on Harry's left shoulder, and he returned the kiss. It was just as gentle as the last one, but so much better now that he was actively participating instead of just standing there like an idiot.

When they finally broke apart, Fionn smiled shyly and looked away, though he took one of Harry's hands in his own. Harry for his part, was thinking that this might actually work. Had Fionn been a girl, he wouldn't have the issues he had been having, so if he just ignored the fact that the Fae was a boy... Did it really matter what gender someone was, if they were perfect for you in all other ways?

A red message light flew through his closed door and came to hover in front of Harry. He sighed, why was it that something always had to interrupt when he was discovering something important? Couldn't he get a lazy day with no distractions, just once? Holding out his hand palm up, he allowed the message to play.

"Great. I've been called to see Healer Tristan. Says he has some people who are experts in Soul Magic, and want to examine the brand. And they want to do it today, as soon as possible."

"Then we had better go tell Ash."

The room they were shown into, was larger than the usual room Harry met Healer Tristan in. He supposed that was most likely due to the fact that Fred and George had insisted on coming with them. Five people, plus however many Healer Tristan was bringing, would hardly fit in the usual room. This room looked just like the other, only it was at least three times the size, with five chairs along the wall instead of one. Ash took the one closest to the door, and pointedly looked at Fred and George, then the chairs next to her. They got the message and sat instead of checking out the cabinets and drawers as Harry was sure they wanted to.

Harry sat on the edge of the exam table, and Fionn stood beside him, holding his left hand. The Fae hadn't let go of him for long at all since Harry had kissed him. It made Harry feel a little bad, had Fionn been that worried that he was going to break the Courtship?

When the door opened, Harry looked up expecting to see Healer Tristan. His eyes widened in surprise at what he saw instead. A very tall man, well over 6' tall, probably closer to 6'6", walked into the room. He had long, straight black hair that fell to his mid-back, and glowing red eyes. His skin was a dark grey-black, not a human color, and the aura he gave off made Harry shiver. It was dark, almost scarily so, but it didn't have the evil feel that Voldemort's did. He was wearing black from head to toe. Was this a Djinn?

Following him, was a comparatively shorter man, around 5'9". His skin was a light caramel color, and his hair was blood red, falling to mid-thigh. He wore his hair in thousands of tiny braids, each one ending in what looked like an amber bead. His hair made a soft shushing sound as he moved, and the beads clicked quietly together. His eyes were a dark red, and had golden lines in the skin around them. Harry didn't know for sure, but they _looked_ kind of like some of the markings he had seen in Hermione's Ancient Rune homework. This new Fae wore a sleeveless gold silk shirt, with a v-neck, and tight black leather pants and boots. He was also smirking, and Harry suddenly realized he had been staring.

Healer Tristan hurried in the room after the other two and smiled. "Ah good, everyone's here. Harry, this is Djuran, he is the Djinn I spoke to you about that specializes in Soul Magics. And this is Rialyn, he's a Healer, though not for any of the Hospitals."

"Independent contractor you might say. Thanks Tristan, we'll be taking it from here." Rialyn flashed a smile and waved the other Healer off towards the door without really looking at Tristan _or_ the door. Tristan sputtered for a moment, but finally left when neither Rialyn nor Djuran paid him the slightest bit of attention. Indeed, it looked as though they had totally forgotten Tristan existed, the moment he was done introducing them.

"We'll need to see the brand Harry, and he-" Djuran pointed at Fionn, "will need to move elsewhere. His magic will interfere with our readings." Djuran's voice was low, and surprisingly warm for how dark his aura was.

Harry squeezed Fionn's hand and then released him as he got off the exam table. Fionn went to sit by George, and Harry dropped his shirt on the table and turned his back to everyone. Wings spread and out of the way, he waited for the usual inspection. Really, this was getting old, he just wanted to know what it _did_ already, and then get rid of it!

"Mmm... He _does_ have a nice ass." The voice was closer behind him than Harry had expected, and it fairly oozed with ...something.

Harry lost his thought as he suddenly heard a loud thump, as though someone had been forcefully shoved back into a chair. He started to turn to see what was happening, when a hand landed on his shoulder and held him in place.

"Ri! Now is not the time. We have a job to do, remember?" Djuran sounded slightly exasperated, but not as if this was unusual behavior for the Fae. "Please hold still, we haven't started yet." This last obviously being directed at Harry.

A moment later, the hand was removed from his shoulder, but now he could feel two hands touching the brand. One set of fingers were slightly cool, as though they had been holding a cold drink or something recently, the other was much warmer. And then the brand started to _burn._ Much more than the tingle he usually felt when someone tried to read the magics. He gasped softly and his wings twitched as he forced them to stay extended and out of the way. The burning continued to intensify, to the point that he was going to beg them to stop, and then he felt the fingers draw away. One set trailed lower briefly and pinched him on the ass, he didn't even try to stop the instinctual response. His right wing snapped back and smacked into something solid, there was a yelp, and then he was facing everyone again.

Rialyn was rubbing his arm, obviously he was the one Harry had smacked, and Djuran was looking every bit as exasperated as his voice had sounded earlier. Fionn looked angry, Harry had never thought to see the Fae that angry, and all of it was currently directed at Rialyn. He had a twin on each side of him now, and they were holding his arms to the chair so he couldn't get up.

"Ri, what have I said about purposely annoying mateships? You're not even really interested, go stand over there where you can't do more harm." Djuran pointed to a corner, as far from Harry and the others as it was possible to get.

"But it's such fun, and he _does_ have a nice ass. I simply couldn't help myself! And I might be interested. Anything is possible." He lounged in his corner, looking pleased with himself.

Harry frowned, looking between his friends and the new people a moment, and then decided to go sit down. He wanted answers, and if that meant he had to bite his tongue for now, he'd do it. But Rialyn was going to get a piece of his mind before he left. Fionn was still looking angry, and George looked at Harry like he wanted him to help keep the Fae from trying to kill. So Harry did the only thing that came to mind, and slid into Fionn's chair, pulling the Fae partially onto his lap and wrapping both arms around him. Fionn's body was stiff in his arms, but he gradually relaxed against him.

"Tristan was right to call us in. It is Soul Magic. Specifically, it is meant to swap your soul for the soul of the one who placed the brand on you. It holds your Demon magic in check, so it cannot be accessed beyond the bare minimum. When you die, the brand will be triggered, and pull the Demon part of you out, and put the soul of this other into you instead. It also will retain your Wizard magics in your body, so the usurper has full access to your power." Djuran looked Harry in the eyes as he spoke. "I can remove it, with Rialyn's aid. But we need the person who put the brand on you in order to do so."

Harry had gone pale during the explanation, it was one thing to be told that something _might_ be the case, but to be told that he really _did_ have something on him that was meant to put someone else's soul into his body... And Djuran had said he had to die for it to happen, so did that mean Voldemort wanted his body? That would make sense, Voldemort's body was disgusting, and he certainly wouldn't want it, but... how would Voldemort have managed to brand him?

"There are trackers already searching for the one who did this, they went out a few mortal realm days ago." Ash spoke when it was apparent that Harry was in no shape to do so.

"So they should be back soon then. That's good. We'll be in the area, when the time comes, we'll be ready."

Ash gathered everyone, it was apparent that Harry was in too much shock to ask anything more right now. But as Harry finally stood, prodded by Fred, he remembered he hadn't yet given Rialyn a piece of his mind. Still holding onto Fionn, he wheeled around and narrowed his eyes at the red-haired Fae.

"If you _ever_ touch me without my permission again, you will regret it. I may not have use of my Demon magics, but my _Wizarding_ magic works just fine."

Rialyn tilted his head to the side and smirked as he licked his lips. "I'll have to keep that in mind... Harry..." He nearly purred the name, and Fred and George dragged Harry and Fionn out of the room before anything else could be said.

AN:

Thought I should put in a pronunciation guide, as I've added two new strange names. *laughs* Fionn: Pronounced Fee-on. Nickname is Fi, which is pronounced Fee.  
Djuran: Pronounced D'jur (as in the first part of Jury)-an.  
Rialyn: Pronounced Ree-al-in. Nickname is Ri, pronounced Ree.

Also, don't forget to check the forum for Review Responses. It can be found on my profile.


	19. Another Twist

Harry was seeing red, it was a good thing his Demon magics were out of reach for now, otherwise he thought he just might have set Rialyn on fire. As he was imagining those blood-red braids going up in flames, he was jerked from his daydream by Ash.

The moment they had all hit the corridor, she called Air and transported them to her house. The only time Harry could remember her calling Air to get them somewhere in the Realm, had been the day he rescued Fionn. And if he had thought _he_ was pissed, it was nothing compared to the look on Ash's face when they arrived. She immediately began pacing the sitting room, her wings snapping out and mantling around her as she paced. Finally she looked up at all of them and pointed from them to the furniture.

"Sit. Now."

Everyone hurried to obey, Ash in this kind of mood was quite scary, and no one had any idea just what had set her off. Harry and Fionn got the couch, with George beside Fionn, and Fred grabbed an armchair near George. Ash paced a few more times, took a breath, and then turned to look at them all.

"I'm guessing by your lack of reaction during most of what Rialyn did, that your Demon magics aren't the only thing the brand is affecting. Or were you suppressing your instincts for some reason?" She looked directly at Harry and waited.

Fionn looked surprised, and then thoughtful, settling a little more firmly against Harry's side. Harry just looked confused for a moment. "Instincts? It was obnoxious, and I wanted to smack him, but I also wanted to know what they found out. So I waited and yelled at him _after_ Djuran explained." He still looked a little uncertain, as though he wasn't sure that's what Ash was asking him.

Ash sighed and closed her eyes, visibly reigning in her temper and settling her wings back into a relaxed state. Flopping down in another armchair across from the couch, she finally spoke again. "I'm not mad at _you_ Harry. Apparently I didn't explain some things as well as I thought. Okay. Let's try this. Courtship. Two people enter into it to see if they are as compatible as they think, and at the end of it, the one being Courted accepts the other into a mateship or does not. Yes?"

Harry nodded silently, he had no idea where this was going, but was beginning to feel that sinking sensation. The one he got when some new twist on his screwed up life reared it's head.

"And when Courtship begins, one person asks the other formally, and is accepted formally, in front of at least one witness. Yes?"

Harry nodded again.

"Which is when it becomes a _magically binding contract._" Ash paused to let that sink in a moment.

Harry's eyes went huge, magically binding...and he had almost no access whatsoever to his Demon magics. Was this part of why he always felt so out of step with what was going on? With what Fionn was obviously expecting from him? Not just that he didn't know the stuff the Realm-born knew, and not just that Fionn was broken and seemed to need him more than Harry thought was good for him. But there was actually something that was supposed to be guiding him, and it wasn't working because of that bloody brand?

"Does that mean that Harry and Fionn aren't actually Courting? Since he can't access his Demon abilities, so can't enter a magical contract?" Fred asked.

Ash shook her head, at the same time as Fionn tightened his grip on Harry's arm. "No. Fionn's half of the Courtship magics are in full affect. As you noticed in the room today. That was hardly in character for him, or at least, not in character as he is now. The Courtship is in effect, it's just... skipping... the parts that Harry is supposed to be dealing with. And that leaves a large hole in the magics. Normally, when you are Courting, you can feel to a small extent, the needs of the others in the Courtship. Harry doesn't appear to be getting that part of it. When someone tries to flirt with one who is Courting, that triggers an instinctual response, that of protecting the potential mateship, not allowing anyone else to break them apart. Only since Harry's magic can't connect with Fionn's the way it's supposed to, that made Fionn's instinct kick into higher gear than usual. You can add more people to the Courtship, if all current people agree, though that's rare. But that was not what Rialyn was trying to do. And so Fionn's instinct was telling him that he had to remove the threat."

Harry slid an arm around Fionn, pulling him a little closer against his side. All the various little hurts that he had done to the Fae, without knowing what he had done, or how to fix them, could have all been avoided if only he didn't have that brand on him! Harry's eyes narrowed a little as he thought. That just made him even more determined to do what he had to do, to get rid of it as soon as possible. He hadn't been as concerned as he should have been, since it didn't seem to be affecting his Wizarding magics. But he could now see that he should have been more worried, more focused on getting rid of it.

"I think that once the brand is removed, that Harry's half of the Courtship magics should snap into place. But it's possible that the Courtship will have to be re-started. I don't know. The other thing that concerns me at the moment... Djinn's don't do anything for free. And Djuran said nothing about what he would require as payment for removing the brand from you Harry. For that matter, neither did Rialyn. Since he doesn't work for a specific hospital, his fee won't fall under the normal ones for a hospital visit. And they're both experts in Soul Magics. Which means they most likely won't ask you for money."

"They can't have him. I won't accept either of them into our Courtship." Fionn's voice was soft, but quite fierce in his declaration.

"I wouldn't agree to that even if they asked Fionn. Eternity with Rialyn is enough to make me want to take my chances on finding another way." Harry squeezed Fionn's side lightly, and the Fae leaned back against him again.

"So, I have a question. Just how are you able to sit in chairs and couches without your wings getting bent?" Fred grinned, quite obviously trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Ash rolled her eyes. "Magic. The same spells that make our clothes able to pass our wings through, allows the furniture to do the same. You're a Wizard, did you _really_ need to ask that?"

George snickered at his brother, and ducked when Fred tried to smack him on the head. "How does the government here work? Is there a separate government for each type of creature?"

"Yes... and also no." Ash grinned at the looks she received for that answer. "There is a High Council, which is the ruling body of the Realm. Each species has a seat, divided by type. For the Demons, we have the Lord of the Flame, Lady of the Storm, Lord of the Shadow, Lord of the Water, Lady of the Air, and the Lord of the Earth. Your friend Gideon, Harry, is the nephew of the Lord of the Shadow. And Herne is the grandson of the Lord of the Earth. There is a meeting once a year, where anyone can bring requests and complaints before the Council. However, you must submit your request to your representative beforehand, so they can be sorted through. Don't want to have to sit through a bunch of the exact same complaints and requests. They are the ones who make all the laws, and see that everyone obeys them. It's a hereditary post, but the current Lord or Lady chooses their successor from their own bloodline. Which means that everyone in the immediate family is always trying to become the favorite so they're chosen once the current Lord or Lady gets tired of the post and steps down."

"Each of the four branches of the Fae have a seat, but I'm not sure who holds them right now." Fionn looked a touch embarrassed to admit that he did not know which of his people currently held seats. Though it was understandable as he hadn't been in any kind of position where he could follow that sort of thing.

"Four branches? Do you mean there are four main kinds of Fae?" Harry asked curiously.

Fionn nodded. "There are four main branches of Fae, each branch has a specific Fae Gift that only that branch can command. We gain other Gifts as we age, and depending on what kind of things we're exposed to. If one of us falls off a cliff, we might gain the Gift of flight, or we might just die. It's hard to tell what we will receive, and when. The Golden Fae are all Illusionists." He lifted a hand, and a golden butterfly made entirely of shimmering light fluttered around his fingers before vanishing again. "The Indigo Fae are all Seers. Lotus Fae have Voice Magics, and Centaury Fae are Shape-Shifters."

Fred whistled. "With all the different magics you lot have, it must be quite a trick to keep everyone in line. And we thought it was bad in the Wizarding Realm with all the different people and creatures!"

"It _is_ bad Gred. Remember the Ministry? And Fudge? Can't have forgotten him already!"

"True. And I was _trying_ to forget him, now that's dashed! Thanks Forge."

Harry laughed and shook his head. It seemed the twins would never change, and that was good. So many things in his life were changing at a moments notice as it was. He couldn't help but wish that there was a way to keep Fred and George around, the thought of them growing old and dying while he stayed young looking and lived forever... he didn't want to think about it. So for now, he wouldn't. He didn't even realize that he had been successfully distracted, and Fionn too. Fred and George shot each other grins while no one was watching. Mission accomplished.

AN:

Indigo is a color that is linked to other senses, your "third eye", and being able to see beyond the normal. So I felt it was fitting for the name of the Seer branch of Fae. Lotus was used in ancient times as an aphrodisiac, as well as to control the minds of slaves. Hence, being the name of the Fae who have Voice Magics. Centaury is an herb long thought to help with shape-shifting. Sorry for the delay in this chapter, and it isn't even beyond the normal word count. Work has been evil this week! Don't forget to check the forum for review replies. Link can be found on my profile. 


	20. Oops

Fred held out a stack of letters to Harry. "All done. I honestly can't see Bill, Charlie or Dad knowing anything about what Mum did. But I wouldn't have believed it of Mum either before you told us." He shrugged and looked a little miserably at Harry, George rested his chin on Fred's shoulder.

Harry sighed as he took the stack of letters. "Yeah. I know. Hopefully none of the rest of your family was in on it." When he looked back up at them, he did a double-take and then his eyes widened. "Ash! _ASH!_"

Fred and George looked confused as Ash came running into the room. "What's wrong? Why are you yelling for me like that?"

Harry pointed a finger towards the twins. "Uh Ash. When Fionn was talking about Wizards fading in the Realm, no one actually explained what that looked like. It doesn't look like _that_... does it?"

Fred's form was slightly - fuzzy - around the edges, though the rest of him looked fine. George didn't have the fuzzy edges, but he was paler than usual, paler than Fred was. Ash reached out and poked them, making them both jump. "Shit. Usually they last longer than _this._ You two are going to have to go back to the mortal Realm, no later than the end of today."

"But-"

"No buts. Do you want to fade out of existence? Vacation is over kids, decide what you want to see or do today, and I'll be taking you back to the mortal Realm tonight."

Fred and George looked at each other, doing their communicating without words thing. Just as George opened his mouth to say what they had decided, a red message light flew into the room and up to Harry.

"The Warriors are back, with a prisoner. They want to know if the brand can be removed today. Apparently they don't want to take any chances of anything happening to the prisoner before he can be put to use." He looked apologetically at the twins. "Sorry guys, maybe Ash or Fionn will take you around somewhere for your last day?"

"No Harry, we want to see this. It sounds interesting,"

"And dangerous!"

"And we want to be there."

"Well, if you're sure..."

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The room they entered was made entirely of plain grey stone. It was twice as large as the exam room they had been in last time, and there were no chairs or other furniture in sight. The walls and ceiling were completely smooth, and had no designs or pattern to them. Most of the floor was smooth and flat, but there were two places, one in the far left corner of the room, and one to the right of the door, where the floor had what looked like a miniature wall in it. These walls were only three inches tall, and about two inches wide, but they went right to the actual walls like they were mapping out rooms within the room. Harry wondered what they were for.

As they were looking around at the room, the door opened and Rialyn and Djuran came in, followed by Gideon, Herne and Laric. The Warriors had a bundle swathed in blankets hovering in the air behind them. They headed to the far left, where the not-room was and dumped the bundle onto the floor inside the miniature walls. Laric and Herne stayed facing the bundle, and Gideon turned to face into the room.

"Hey, I thought only Fae and Succubi had colored hair." Fred said in a voice that sounded like it was meant to be a whisper but didn't quite carry it off. "So why does that Demon have purple hair?"

Harry hadn't ever thought about why Gideon had purple hair before, it was just one of those things. He shrugged at Fred. "No idea?"

Laric and Herne were trying not to laugh, Gideon just had a blank expression, and then Herne whispered, though his voice carried clearly in the quiet room. "He dyes it!"

_Whack!_ Gideon smacked the back of Herne's head with one wing, Laric's shoulders were shaking as he laughed silently.

"If we're done fooling around, I'd like to get started." Djuran had his arms crossed and looked a little bored.

"Uhm... Can I ask who it is? I'd kind of like to know who did this to me, and why."

Gideon frowned. "He's been drugged so he can't interfere with the removal Harry. But I can tell you what he said when we interrogated him if you really want to know. It wasn't... pleasant. I think he's more than a bit insane."

"I want to know. Whoever it is blocked off a major part of me, and it's still screwing with my life. Tell me."

"He said that there was a prophecy, you were fated to be the one to kill some Dark Lord in your Realm. But this Lord had split his soul into seven Horcruxes that needed to be destroyed first. And he said that... he believed you were one of them." Gideon paused a moment, both to let that sink in and because Djuran had hissed when he said the word 'horcruxes' and was now cursing with Rialyn in another language.

Harry paled, and reached up to rub his scar. "No... that can't be. I can't be a horcrux, why would he want to steal my body if I was a horcrux?" Fionn came up behind him and held Harry.

"He said that once the other horcruxes were destroyed, killing you would destroy the one inside you. He planned to have you and this Dark Lord kill each other, and then when you died he would transfer his soul into your body. So he would then be able to pretend to be you and get the fame for himself. He wanted to be the most powerful Wizard alive and rule the world. But he didn't want to have to deal with being a creature, so he blocked that part out, said it would die along with your soul. And he would be young again, so he'd have many years of power ahead of him." Gideon said.

Laric reached out and vanished the blankets once Gideon stopped talking. Harry's eyes immediately went to the form now revealed. Albus Dumbledore was laying unconscious on the stone floor. He looked worse for wear, his eyebrows were singed, and half of his beard was gone. What was left of his robes were dirty and torn, and there were bruises on some of the revealed skin, as well as cuts and some blood. It must have been quite a fight, though the Warriors didn't appear to have a scratch on them. Harry couldn't speak, he just stood there silently staring. He knew Dumbledore wasn't as good as he wanted everyone to believe, he'd been stealing money from Harry after all. But he really hadn't thought the old man would do something this horrible. Plotting Harry's death and taking over the world? That was something he expected _Voldemort_ to do, not Dumbledore.

Fionn held Harry tightly, and even Fred and George looked shocked.

"Hate to break this up people, but this is going to take a while as it is. Can we get started already?" Rialyn spoke into the silence that had fallen, argument with Djuran finally over.

That seemed to snap Harry out of his thoughts. "Ash said you guys never do this kind of thing for free. But you didn't mention payment to me when we met last time. What am I going to owe you for this?"

Rialyn smirked and started to open his mouth, but Djuran spoke first. "There is nothing we need right now. And we aren't short of money. I think a promise of a favor to be given in the future for each of us would cover it."

"But that could be anything! Harry can't promise something like that!" George gasped.

"That is the payment we wish. If you refuse, you can find another Soul Magic expert and try negotiating with them." Djuran smiled slightly, he knew there were no other Soul Magic experts that could come on this kind of notice.

Harry considered carefully, he didn't like the terms, but better the ones he knew than someone who might ask for worse. "I accept, with conditions."

Djuran arched a single black brow.

"You cannot ask for anything that would damage or break up any mateships I have, or am working towards, at the time of the request. You cannot ask me to kill anyone besides Voldemort. You cannot ask about secrets I have, or have been told by others. And you cannot indenture me or anyone I consider mine." Harry covered the things that were most important to him, and hoped he hadn't left any loopholes that he would regret later.

Djuran glanced at Rialyn. The Fae spoke a single word in a language Harry didn't know, and the gold markings around his eyes _glowed._ Rialyn's eyes unfocused and in a voice nothing like his usual he finally spoke. "Done. Done. Done and Done." The markings went flat and dim again, and his eyes focused once more. "Your terms are accepted in exchange for a favor given in the future for both Djuran and I."

"Now, you three will need to be in the shielding with the prisoner." Djuran spoke to the Warriors, who all carefully stepped over the wall and took up positions facing Dumbledore. "Harry stand here in the center, and the rest of you stand in the shielding by the door. Once we start you will be unable to leave until we are finished." He looked down at Harry as the others moved into position. "This will most likely hurt."

Harry just nodded and silently went to stand between Djuran and Rialyn. Rialyn was closest to Dumbledore but was facing Harry's friends. Djuran was facing Dumbledore and the Warriors. Once all were in position, Djuran spoke two sharp words in that unknown language and glowing barriers sprang up from the miniature walls on the floor. They sealed off the two groups inside of them and went all the way to the ceiling with no gaps. Then Djuran and Rialyn raised their hands, left palms facing each other, right palms facing Harry and began to chant.

Harry tuned it out, he couldn't understand it and the magic that was now swirling in the room was making him just a bit nervous. He wondered if he was supposed to have removed his shirt like he had for the brand readings, but decided that he would have been told to do so if it had been needed. As the chanting grew in volume, the magic almost became visible, he had the feeling that if he could just look in the right way, he'd be able to see it instead of just feeling it. Wind pulled at his hair and clothing, but it wasn't like any wind he had felt before, this was made of pure magic. As it grew stronger, he felt the brand on his lower back begin to heat up. It felt like it was being burned off his skin, or _through_ his skin. He didn't care and couldn't tell, it just _hurt_.

Those watching saw Harry start to glow, first from his back, and then it spread out to cover his entire body. Then the screaming started. Harry was screaming and convulsing in the middle of the room, and suddenly a light shot out from his body and hit Dumbledore. The unconscious Wizard started to twitch and shake as though he was having seizures, but never woke. And still the magic in the room grew. It was so thick it felt like they were swimming in it instead of breathing it.

And that's when they had the first inkling that something wasn't quite right. As the magic pressed in on them, two more beams of light shot out of the circle around Harry, Djuran and Rialyn. And those beams of light and magic went straight for Fred and George. The moment it hit them, both Wizards screamed. They were lifted off their feet and slammed backwards into the stone wall behind them, and nothing Fionn or Ash did would let them approach the twins.

The lights grew brighter, so bright no one could see anything except the light behind their tightly shut eyes. Ash pulled Fionn against her and wrapped them both in her wings, trying to protect him at least from the magics raging through the room. And the screaming from all three Wizards was never-ending. It went on and on, and just when she thought her ears would bleed and she would go deaf, they finally went silent. Yet still the light and magic pressed in on them.

When it was finally over, it took a while to be able to see again, and relearn how to breath. With spots still appearing before her eyes, Ash took a staggering step and looked around. The room looked like it had been set on fire. The once grey stone walls, were now covered in black burned areas. Some of the stone had actually crumbled or melted from the magic, and there were pits and holes everywhere. It looked like a war zone out of a horror book. Harry was unconscious in the middle of the floor, most of his clothes had been burnt off him by the magic, but he didn't appear to have a scratch on him. Dumbledore was gone, completely consumed by the magics used. And when she finally turned to see what had happened to the twins, she could do nothing but stare.

Fred lay slumped against the wall, knocked out cold. George in a heap beside him, also out. And this was a blessing Ash was sure. For where once they had been Wizards, they now had wings. Demon wings, in Jade green with Lapis marble patches. The twins were now Water Demons. There was no sign of the shirts they had been wearing, most likely consumed by the magics that changed them. And now they wouldn't have to worry about leaving the Realm or Fading. But she wasn't sure how they were going to take their new status.

Rialyn raised his head from where he had slumped to the ground, the magics had taken a lot out of him and Djuran. As he looked around the room his eyes fell on Fred and George. He blinked a moment, and then spoke a single word. "Oops."

AN: So, those of you wondering how I was going to deal with Fred and George, this should answer that question. *snickers* Did anyone see that coming?

And I had planned the "he dyes it" line from the moment I introduced Gideon, actually surprised no one mentioned his hair color before now.

Also, sorry but keeps eating my formatting. There are spacers between scenes that it just refuses to add. No clue why. As always, review replies are on the forum which can be found on my profile.


	21. What Happened?

Harry woke to a dull, throbbing ache in his head, and the realization that he was laying on cold stone. It took him a few minutes to remember where he was and why. He could hear hushed voices somewhere off to his left, but the pain in his head wasn't letting him concentrate enough to understand the words. He opened his eyes, and then immediately squeezed them shut agian. The light stabbed straight into his brain, making the headache worse. Harry whimpered softly and threw an arm across his closed eyes, trying to block out the light. It helped a bit, but not as much as he was hoping it would. He was more awake now, though still couldn't quite concentrate on the voices he was hearing across the room. He remembered the start of the brand removal, and how much pain he had been in, how thick the air had gotten with magic. Djuran had told him it was going to hurt, but he hadn't realized what an understatement it had been at the time. As Harry was replaying the events in his mind, he suddenly felt a _snap!_ in his head. It was as though a puzzle piece had clicked into place and he suddenly felt emotions he knew were not his own. They weren't strong or overwhelming, more like background noise until he focused on them. _Worry. Fear. Confusion._ Other things he couldn't name.

Harry managed to push himself up into a sitting position, eyes still closed and head bowed against the pain in his head. As he moved, the voices stopped, and he could feel eyes on him. Without conscious thought, he raised one arm, seconds later he felt a body slide under his arm and nestle against his side. And then a light touch on his temples, warmth flooded his head and the ache passed away as though it had never been. Harry slowly opened his eyes, the light didn't hurt him now, and the first thing he saw was Fionn's face. The Fae looked worried, sliding one hand around Harry's back, the other dropping to rest over Harry's heart. Harry pulled him a little closer.

"It's all right, I'm fine. No need to worry so." Harry spoke softly, nearly a whisper, then looked past Fionn. Ash was standing with her hands on her hips glaring at Rialyn. Not really a surprise there, but Harry did wonder what the red-haired Fae had managed to do or say while he was out to get on her bad side. Djuran was looking down at something Harry couldn't see because Ash and Rialyn were blocking his view. And then he realized he couldn't see the twins anywhere.

"Where are Fred and George? Is the brand gone? Completely?"Harry knew it was a bad sign when no one answered him immediately. Djuran spoke, but it was in that language Harry didn't understand. Rialyn answered, the words sounding defensive as he gestured between Harry and the floor behind Ash. Djuran sighed and rubbed his face with one hand, then turned towards Harry. Ash had her arms crossed and one foot was tapping impatiently.

"The brand is gone, you should have no more problems accessing your Demon magics. Fred and George... should be fine. They have not yet woken from the magical backlash." Djuran sounded tired, which was to be expected after all the energy he had poured into removing Harry's brand.

Harry didn't think he liked the way the Djinn had phrased things. 'should be fine' was not the same thing as 'are fine' after all. He tried to stand up to find out for himself what was going on with the twins, but his legs nearly gave out on him. His muscles felt much weaker than he could ever remember them, he trembled all over and the only thing keeping him upright was Fionn. He leaned against the Fae and closed his eyes a moment as his vision swam.

"Am I supposed to be this...tired?" He had almost said 'weak', but he didn't know Rialyn and Djuran well enough to be comfortable letting them know just how far gone he was. Even if he probably _should_ tell them in case it meant something had gone horribly wrong. As he waited for the room to come back into focus, and for someone to answer his question, he felt a presence come up behind him. Before he could do more than think about trying to move to see who it was, Fionn spoke softly.

"Gideon, with Laric and Herne."

"You spent a lot of magic while we were removing the brand Harry. It is only to be expected that you will be disorented and tired for a while. You need sleep and food to help you replace what was lost." Djuran still had a slight edge of annoyance to his voice, but Harry was able to finally focus and see that it wasn't directed at him, but at Rialyn. Now he _really_ wanted to know what he had missed.

Taking a deep breath, he started to take a step forward, determined to force his body to obey him. And nearly fell the moment he shifted his weight to lift the first foot. Fionn staggered slightly and tried to hold Harry upright, but a well-muscled arm slid around Harry's waist from the opposite side and steadied them both. Harry tilted his head up a bit to see who had caught him, and found himself looking up into ice-blue eyes.

Laric looked down at him, no visible expression on his face a moment, and then gave a very faint smile. "I do not believe you should be walking around as yet."

"I want to know what happened to Fred and George." Harry set his chin stubbornly, refusing to look away or back down. He just _knew_ something had happened to the twins, and from how no one was telling him what it was, that everyone knew he wouldn't be happy about it.

Laric glanced from Harry to where Ash, Rialyn and Djuran were still blocking the view of the twins, then back down at Harry before sighing softly. Turning his gaze to Fionn he spoke again. "May I?"

Fionn looked up at the Warrior for a long moment, then back at Harry, before finally nodding silently. Before Harry could ask what was going on, Laric had scooped him up into his arms as though he weighed nothing and began walking towards where the others were standing. Gideon and Herne moved slightly in front of them, their stances protective. Rialyn and Djuran finally moved out of the way, and Harry got his first look at Fred and George. Laric carefully set him down on the ground, and Harry promptly allowed his wobbly legs to collapse so he could get closer to the twins.

He couldn't think of anything to say at first, his mind was in too much shock. He barely noticed the Warriors and Ash moving around to block Rialyn and Djuran away from him, or Fionn settling down beside him. Harry reached out tentatively and touched Fred's wing. It was real. This wasn't a dream, the twins were really Demons. He looked at George and was reassured at the fact that his chest was rising and falling as he breathed, Fred's as well. But...how had this happened? They were past the age of inheritance, so this shouldn't have been possible. Never mind the fact that his life was full of impossibilities, it wasn't supposed to branch out and effect other people!

"How did this happen?"

"We're not exactly sure Harry. There was so much magic in the room, you were glowing so brightly. And then some of it shot out and hit the Wizard who branded you, and the magic just kept growing. Then more shot out and hit the twins. We could hear them screaming but couldn't get to them, and it got so bright we couldn't see anything. After it was over, they were as you see them now." Ash said quietly.

"But you think it was Rialyn's fault." Harry said flatly. "I saw the way you were all looking at him when I woke up."

"I didn't do it! I don't have that kind of power, and why would I bother if I _did?_ Do you have any idea how much energy that would take?" Rialyn sounded put out, and as though he had already said the same thing numerous times.

"But you were the one facing them, why wouldn't both of you be facing Dumbledore? That would have made more sense, keeping the magics focused away from the others and focused on us?" Harry was tired, but he was forcing his mind to function for just a little bit longer. He wanted to know what had happened now, not later.

"The way the magic was wrapped around you, it had to be unwoven. We couldn't let any remain, and so each of us faced a different direction so we could spin the magic around and off of you and feed it back to the Wizard." Djuran explained.

"Only there was a lot more magic than we were expecting. Your magic was not happy about being bound, and when it combined with the Wizard's magic, it pretty much exploded. You didn't really look at the room, did you?" There was a slight smirk in Rialyn's voice when he said the last.

Harry blinked. The room? Why should he have looked at the room? He craned his head to see around the bodies standing around him and his mouth fell open. It looked like a war had been waged in the room, he hadn't known rock could _melt_. There were cracks and pieces missing, and some of the holes looked like he could fit his entire head inside of them. Maybe... Maybe it _wasn't_ Rialyn's fault? Maybe it was his own fault? Whatever had done it, he hoped Fred and George would forgive him for it and not be too upset.

"Merlin..." It was all too much to take in, in his current state. All he wanted was to fall on his face and sleep for a week or two. But he couldn't seem to let himself yet. "Why aren't they awake yet?"

"Their bodies shut down while they get used to their new species Harry. Yours did the same after your inheritance. They most likely won't wake up until tonight or tomorrow morning. They'll be fine, they just need time to recover, just like you." Ash reassured.

"What about Guides? Are you going to be their Guide as well?"

"No! I mean, I don't think I'm up to teaching three people at once Harry. Uh... we'll have to find a Guide or Guides for them after they wake up." Ash looked a little disturbed at the idea of taking on Fred and George, Harry snickered at the look on her face.

"Laric and I could do it, if you'd be willing to take over occasionally when we are called elsewhere milady." Gideon spoke up for the first time since Harry had woken.

"I suppose I could do that..." Ash said a little reluctantly, but at least it wouldn't be full-time. "I think it's time to get them back, Harry is about out and while Fred and George can't feel it right now, sleeping on stone isn't the most comfortable of places."

Gideon stepped forwards and lifted Fred with as little effort as Laric had lifted Harry earlier. Herne picked up George, and Harry felt himself being lifted and cradled against Laric's chest once again. Fionn resting a hand on Harry's ankle and giving it a gentle squeeze. Harry thought he should be more upset about being carried like a child, but he was too tired to dredge up enough effort to care. And it was surprisingly comfortable to be held this way, the Warrior was warm, and he found himself sliding down into sleep with his head resting against Laric's shoulder. His last thoughts before sleep claimed him, was that he was glad he had run into them his first day. He didn't know Laric well, as the Warrior didn't speak much, but the others were turning out to be people he thought he could be friends with.

AN: Review responses for the previous chapters are on the forum. Which can be found by going to my profile. Thanks for all the reviews!


	22. Waking Up

Harry woke to a warm weight on his chest and along his side. He was still sleepy, but it was more of a content, happy to laze around in bed for a while sleepy. Nothing hurt, and he felt lighter than he could ever remember feeling. It was as though he had been walking around with fifty-pound weights on each limb, and suddenly they were gone. He could feel a warm, happy buzz along the bond that had snapped into place in his mind the day before. He had thought it would be disturbing, feeling Fionn's feelings in the back of his head. Almost like he was listening in on things he had no right to. But it wasn't like that at all. He couldn't read the Fae's mind, all he felt was his emotions. And only those when he actually thought about, and focused on the bond between them. Or if the emotions were especially strong. It was actually... comforting in a way. He couldn't explain it, even in his own mind.

Harry slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling a moment before glancing down at the Fae draped across his chest. Fionn's white-blonde hair spilled across Harry's shoulder, his head resting over Harry's heart. He gently carded his fingers through the strands, toying with the ends, and Fionn made a pleased sound. Harry continued to play with Fionn's hair for a few moments, before the Fae finally moved. He didn't move much however, just turned his head so his chin was now resting on Harry's chest and he could blink sleepy golden eyes at Harry.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

Fionn nodded. "I dreamt about you."

"Did you now?" Harry smiled, his eyes looking amusedly down at Fionn.

"Mmm-hmmm." Fionn didn't elaborate, instead he pushed himself up a bit and stretched up to kiss Harry. It started off slowly, just a slightly sleepy good morning kiss, and then it grew. One of Harry's hands wound its way into Fionn's hair, his other drifted to the small of the Fae's back. As the kiss deepened, Fionn gave a soft, almost humming sound. And then their tongues touched for the first time. It sent a pleasant tingle down Harry's spine, he felt goosebumps break out on his arms and the back of his neck. He could faintly smell Fionn's shampoo, and beneath that the Fae's own scent. Sunshine and vanilla. His mind shorted out and all he could do was _feel._ And then Fionn was pulling back, a faint blush dusting along his cheekbones.

"We should get up. Your friends will be waking soon if they haven't already."

Harry was slightly disappointed, but was sure it was mostly due to teenage hormones. He could feel through their bond that Fionn was stopping because he didn't think Harry was ready for more. Or at least, Harry _thought_ that's what he was reading from the Fae. And he was most likely right, it hadn't been that long ago that he had wondered if he even liked guys. He wasn't conflicted about that anymore though. He didn't know if it was because it just didn't _matter_ anymore, or if it was due to the Courtship magics coming online, or being able to embrace his Demonic nature with the brand off. It could be any, all or none of those reasons. It just felt _right_. And he didn't want to screw things up, so he would start paying more attention to how he acted around Fionn.

"I suppose. Though I'm not looking forward to Fred and George's reactions when they find out what happened. They'll either be totally freaked out and hate it, or they'll _love_ the idea. And I'm not really sure which one would be worse, honestly."

Fionn just laughed, sliding from the bed he walked over to the wardrobe before opening the door and pulling out clothes for the day. Harry stretched, hearing his back pop softly, and then followed him to the wardrobe. Leaning around the Fae, he let one hand lightly brush down Fionn's back as he rummaged in the wardrobe with the other. Once they were both dressed, and had completed their morning bathroom routines, they headed out of the bedroom and into the one next door.

Fred and George were laying on their stomachs in the bed, blankets and sheets drawn up to their waists, and then just the sheet draped over their upper bodies. They hadn't moved from the way they had been laid, but as Harry and Fionn watched, Fred's left wing twitched, and George groaned softly into the pillow.

"Anyone catch the hippogriff that ran me down? I think we need to look into a line using hippogriff parts." George mumbled the words, but they could still be made out mostly clearly.

"Too much noise Gred." Fred whined and squinted his eyes tighter shut.

Fionn stepped forward and laid a hand on top of Fred's head, and the other hand on George's head. It was awkward, reaching both from one side of the bed, without hitting Fred's wing, but he managed it. And after the glow from his hands faded away, he returned to Harry's side.

Fred opened his eyes slowly, and then sighed in relief. Pushing himself up, he suddenly stopped and slowly looked over his shoulder. "Bloody hell..."

George's eyes popped open and he tried to roll over to see what had set Fred off. And that's when _he_ realized there was a problem. "The fuck... Why do we have wings growing out of our backs?"

"Yeah, about that..." Harry looked sheepish, running a hand through his hair. "Would you believe me if I told you we're not exactly sure how that happened?"

Both twins just stared at him. "Uhm..." He shifted his feet nervously. "It's true. All I know is when I woke up, you two had been changed into Demons. Uh... Water Demons. Ash said that the magics built up and kind of exploded after connecting me to Dumbledore. Everyone blamed Rialyn, but he insists he didn't do it. So... it's probably my fault?"

Fred looked at George, then back at Harry and Fionn, then back at George. His shoulders started to shake, and soon he was snickering, George as well. "Harry's Law strikes again then?"

"Harry's Law?" Harry looked at them in confusion.

George waved a hand in the air. "Muggles have some saying, 'Whatever can go wrong, will.' or some such. They call it someone-or-other's Law. Well, it fits you better than that Muggle. So-"

"Harry's Law." Fred finished. And then they started laughing in earnest. When they finally stopped, they had tears running down their faces and were gasping for breath. If the laughter had been slightly on the hysterical side for some of it, Harry wasn't about to comment on it.

"You know Forge... this might actually be useful. We wanted to open another store, why not here?"

"Gred, that is a _wonderful_ idea." Fred rubbed his hands together, ignoring or not noticing how his wings rose up behind him as he thought.

"We'll have to come up with an all-new product line, and tweak the old ones to work on the creatures here..."

"Just think of all the new test subjects!"

"No worries about fading, or how long we stay since the time isn't the same here."

They both looked at each other with identical huge grins on their faces. "This... is going to be _wicked!_"

AN: Not entirely happy with this chapter, but I'm not sure how to tweak it at the moment. Will leave a note if I change things around.

Boss has changed my work week to where I get _no_ days off now, so updates won't be as often as they used to be. But no worries, there WILL be updates!

Don't forget to check the forum for review responses. Link can be found on my profile.


	23. Control and a Festival?

Fire was every bit as hard to control as it had been before the brand was removed. However, the reasons were completely different. Before, it had been hard because it took every bit of his concentration and power just to get the smallest flicker of Fire to appear. Now? It took every bit of his concentration to get the Fire to not consume everything. Getting it to appear when he wished it to was no longer an issue at all, he needed it to _disappear_ when he wished. And that was the current problem. Every time he thought he had the last of the flames he had called put out, a new one would spark up somewhere on his body.

Ash had laughed at him the first few times she told him to douse the flames for the day, and he couldn't seem to do it. But as time dragged on, she was getting less and less amused. At least the Fire wasn't actually burning him, it kind of tickled as it danced across his skin, and while he could feel the heat, it was a pleasant warmth, not the burning pain he had expected it to be.

"Harry! Don't daydream, the more your mind wanders, the less able you are to get rid of your Fire. Concentrate, think about what will happen if you suddenly go up in flames out in public. The Fire may not hurt _you_ but it most definitely _will_ burn others. Including Fionn, and any other mates you end up with."

Harry jerked his thoughts back on track, there was no way he was going to allow his magic to hurt anyone. Not unless he _wanted_ it to hurt them at least, and since he couldn't think of a reason he'd want to set anyone on fire, he had to get control over this now. Frowning in concentration, he willed the flames on his left arm to shrink and vanish. With a soft almost hiss, they grew smaller, becoming tiny pin pricks of fire, and then they were gone. He quickly ran a quick check on himself, and finding no more flames anywhere, he sighed with relief.

He and Ash had been working on control for a few hours now. She had told him it was the most important lesson. When he could call Fire and then make it vanish on command, consistently, she would teach him other things. He was beginning to wonder just how long it was going to take before he was ready to learn something else. It had sounded easy in theory, call Fire, then tell it to go away again. In practice however...

"All right. I think that's enough for today. Go take a shower, Fred and George will be back from their training sessions soon as well. Once you're all back and showered, I have something fun to tell you about!" Ash grinned as she spun around and hurried out the door of the training room.

Harry just shook his head and walked slowly out after her. Even after this long, it still scared him a little bit when she said she had something fun to show or tell him. When he reached his room, he grabbed clean clothes from the wardrobe and hurried into the bathroom. A long hot shower sounded wonderful right now.

When he reached the sitting room, the only one there was Fionn. The Fae was curled up in one corner of the couch, flipping through a sketch book. When Harry sat down beside him, Fionn promptly put the sketch book on the table next to him, and cuddled up against Harry's side.

"Any idea what Ash is planning this time?"

Fionn shook his head. "She just said she wanted to tell you and the twins something. Fred and George haven't come back yet."

As though they had been conjured by the words, Fred and George hurried into the room with mischievous grins on their faces.

"Merlin... What have you two done _now?_" Harry sighed. They hadn't been Demons for long, but they had already gotten into more trouble than Harry or Ash had thought possible. He now knew why Ash had been so adamant about not being their Guide as well as his.

"Us? Why Harry you wound us!" Fred mock-gasped.

"We barely get into the house and he already thinks the worst of us Forge!"

"Well! We don't have to stand here and listen."

"We could lay here."

"Or sit here."

"But I think it would be better to go shower. There's an annoyed Storm Demon somewhere behind us, remember Forge?"

"Right you are Gred! To the shower!"

"Better hurry, Ash has something she wants to tell us. And you know how impatient she is. Do I even _want_ to know what you did to Laric?"

Fred and George just waved a hand each at him as they hurried on through the room, without answering his question. Harry looked at Fionn and rolled his eyes. The Fae's golden eyes were shining with silent laughter and he settled himself back more comfortably against Harry's side. Harry put his arm around Fionn and had just opened his mouth to speak when Laric entered the room.

The Storm Demon was drenched. There was no other way to describe it. His braids were dripping water into his face and down his back, his shirt was plastered to his skin, and his boots _squelched_ with every step he took. It looked like he had jumped in a lake with all his clothes on. And by the expression on his face, he hadn't gone swimming by choice.

Harry's eyes went wide and he stared in silence a moment. "Uh..."

Laric swept the room with his eyes, and then he nodded to himself. "If they wish to have a war, they picked the wrong target." His words were soft, but Harry could hear the slight thread of amusement behind them. With a polite nod to Fionn and Harry, Laric turned and walked out of the room again.

"I think... the twins are in for a surprise." Harry snickered and Fionn nodded in agreement.

When everyone had finally assembled in the sitting room, Ash began to speak excitedly, her hands waving around as she talked. "So! The Freedom Festival is coming up! It's a yearly festival, and it lasts for 7 days and nights. The entire Realm celebrates, and people come from all over for games, food, shopping and other things. It's a lot of fun! Though you two," she pointed at Fred and George, "will need to exchange claiming studs before then. Otherwise you'll have a lot of people trying to split you up and Court only one of you. Some will try for both of you of course, but it'll be easier on you if they know you're already in a mateship."

"What exactly is the Freedom Festival? I mean, what is it in celebration of?" Harry asked.

"It's supposed to mark the date when the Realm was finished and first inhabitable. So basically it's a celebration of our getting our own Realm away from Wizards and Muggles. There will be lots of stuff to see and do, and fireworks shows almost every night. Since we're in one of the larger cities, a lot of people travel here to celebrate. Which means it will be very crowded, and you three will need to work on your control so your elements don't get out of hand." Ash looked at Harry, Fred and George seriously for a moment. When they nodded, she continued. "The first day, not a lot happens because people are still arriving and setting things up. But there will be a parade, and booths get set up along all the main streets. You'll most likely run into some of the races you haven't seen much of during the Festival, and there will be a great deal more people around then you're used to. I can hardly wait!"

Harry just shook his head. Huge groups of people and partying all day and night? Yeah, that sounded like an Ash version of _fun._ But it didn't sound all that fun to _him._ But at least here he wasn't the Boy-Who-Lived, he might able to be just Harry during the Festival. So far, he'd just been treated like a mostly normal Demon, except for the whole brand incident and such. It was a nice change, though he did have to wonder, if Fred and George had to exchange claiming studs before the Festival, what about Fionn and him? They weren't mated yet, would people try to separate them? His arm tightened around Fionn at the thought. It had been weird when he first was told about Courting, and weirder still when he entered into it with Fionn. But now that he had gotten to know him better, and the brand was gone so the Courtship Magics were working, he couldn't imagine not having the Fae in his life. The thought of someone trying to take Fionn from him made him angry.

Fionn turned to face Harry, with Harry's arm still wrapped around his waist. He reached out and touched Harry's cheek lightly to get his attention, then kissed him. "No one will take me away. We just tell people we're Courting, and most will back off." His voice was soft, the others most likely didn't even hear him since Fred and George were asking Ash more questions and she was happily rattling off answers about the Festival. Harry blushed faintly and nodded. "Sorry, I-"

"It's okay." Fionn smiled and kissed Harry again gently before turning back around to face the others once more.

"So you have about two weeks to learn to control your Demon Magics before the Festival begins. Which means we'll be working you every day just to be sure there are less likely to be accidents during the Festival." Ash grinned. "So off to bed with you! More working in the morning for all of you! Well, except Fionn." She laughed and bounced to her feet before skipping from the room humming to herself.

AN: Remember, review responses can be found in the forum. Forum link is on my profile.


	24. Healing Words

**Warning:** Mentions of past abuse in this chapter. Nothing too graphic I don't think? But if you would rather skip those parts, it starts when Fionn tells Harry how many years he was with the Djinn. And ends in that same paragraph.

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Harry lay sprawled across the bed on his stomach, too tired to want to even _think_ about moving. He had just gotten out of the shower after yet another training session with Ash. Fire was coming more easily to his call, and he could mostly douse it on command now, but some of the other things Ash thought he needed to know were just... _weird._ Why did he have to know how to call a ring of Fire on the ground? Or making his wings covered in Fire, reminding him of Phoenix flames? Today she had him concentrating on making gauntlets of Fire. And when he asked her why he'd need to be able to do any of these strange things, she would either just smile secretly at him, or tell him flat out that she wasn't going to tell him until later. Because he might be tempted to do something stupid.

His hair was dripping onto the pillow, and he hadn't bothered to get clothes before getting into the shower. So he was still wearing a towel around his waist. But he couldn't muster up the energy to care, maybe he'd just take a nap... Fred and George were out getting their claiming studs put in, and then they had a training session with Laric and Gideon. So neither one would be popping in to bug him anytime soon. As his eyes fell shut, he thought he heard the bedroom door open and then close again, but it was so quiet he wasn't sure. And then the bed dipped as someone settled down next to his hip.

A feather-light touch on his bare back made Harry open his eyes. Fionn glanced at his face and smiled shyly before looking back at the expanse of exposed skin before him. Harry felt a brief flash of hesitance along their bond, and then his eyes fluttered shut as Fionn's hands skimmed along his back, from his waist to his neck. The Fae lightly dragged his nails down Harry's spine, raising gooseflesh. And then he began to knead along Harry's shoulders and neck.

It felt incredible. He had known Fionn had talented hands, but he had no idea the Fae was so good at giving massages. Harry felt himself melting into the bed, his muscles warming and turning to goo. Places he hadn't even _realized_ were tense from his training session relaxed and he let his mind drift. He couldn't help the occasional moan when Fionn found and removed a knot, and then, after what felt like hours but was probably a _lot_ less, the hands were removed from his back.

"That... was _wonderful._ How do you always know what I need? Even when I don't even know?"

Fionn licked his lips and ducked his head shyly. "You liked it then?"

Harry turned over onto his side, and then dragged Fionn down onto the bed beside him. "I loved it. Thank you." Gently claiming the Fae's lips, he drew back after a moment. "Fi? What were you like... before? You don't have to answer, it's just... sometimes you seem like two different people." Harry paused, he knew what he wanted to say, he just didn't know how to phrase it. He was grateful the Courtship Bond was working now, there were so many little things that he hadn't realized the Fae needed before, and that he could now feel through their bond. But at the same time, now he could _feel_ how Fionn struggled with himself daily.

Fionn tensed in his arms, and turned his face away before forcing himself to relax against Harry again. "Does it matter? I can't be that person anymore. I'm not strong enough, I can't remember how." His voice was whisper-soft. "You deserve so much more than I can give you. But I'm not strong enough to let you go either." A single tear trickled down his cheek and fell to the comforter below them.

Harry pulled Fionn closer, rested the Fae's head over his heart the way he woke up to him most mornings, and carded his fingers through the white-blonde locks. "You're wrong you know? You are one of the strongest people I know. I don't know what happened to you, but it must have been bad, judging from how you acted when I first brought you here. But you've come so far in only a few months. You refused to talk to a Mind-Healer, and while I don't blame you, I just thought... it might help to talk to someone. I didn't mean to upset you." He pressed a kiss to the top of Fionn's head.

Fionn's body still held a trace of tension, Harry could feel it in the way the Fae wasn't sinking into him the way he usually did. He could also almost _see_ the struggle of emotions going through Fionn's head. He couldn't read anything off the bond besides a tangled mess, and he didn't want to focus to hard and make Fionn feel like he was trying to force the issue. So he just lay there and played with the Fae's hair in silence, waiting to see what decision was being made.

Finally Fionn spoke, his voice was still soft, but it sounded like he had bled all the emotion out of it. "I was with him for two years. Two years where he trained me to act how and when he wished me to. First he made me ask for permission for everything. Anything. Then later when he started to grow bored, I wasn't allowed to speak at all." His eyes were closed, voice distant as though he was reading from a book, or telling a story that was so far removed from reality that it didn't matter. "If I wasn't perfect the first time, and every time, he would hit me. Sometimes it was just with his hand. But as he grew bored of me, he would use... other things." His body gave a slight shudder. "His skin was blue. Sometimes he would entertain himself by trying to make my skin the same color. I never went out, was never allowed beyond the inner most rooms in his home. For most of those two years, I didn't even get to see the sun..." His voice wavered on the last word, and finally stopped. He was all-over tense again, as though he was waiting for a blow.

It made Harry's heart hurt, and tears trembled on the ends of his lashes. Pulling Fionn even closer he held the trembling form against him and ran soothing hands along the Fae's spine, the silk of the dress shirt Fionn always wore was cold and soft beneath his finger tips. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Fi. But you're free now. You have me and Ash, and the twins, and none of us would ever, _ever_ let anything happen to you like that again. Merlin. Can you picture what Fred and George would do if anyone even _looked_ at you wrong? You're already part of the family."

A watery laugh was his only response for a moment, even if it was weak-sounding, Harry was relieved. "You don't think I'm too damaged then? You won't break the Courtship now that you know?"

"Oh Fi..." Harry rolled them over, so Fionn was beneath him and he could look into those golden eyes. "I can't think of a single thing that would make me break the Courtship. Not now that I know you, and don't have that bloody brand suppressing me." He gently wiped the tears from Fionn's eyes, before leaning down and kissing him. Fionn melted into the kiss, wrapping both his arms around Harry's neck as the tension finally bled out of him.

Harry had meant it to be a gentle kiss, one that showed how much he cared about the Fae. But Fionn didn't seem to have the same idea. The Fae pulled him down until there was scarcely any space between them, deepening the kiss as he did so. Harry could feel Fionn doing something behind his head, but couldn't figure out what until the Fae slid his arms down and started unbuttoning the front of his dress shirt. Harry pulled back, his eyes widening slightly as he saw that the cuffs had already been undone. As each button slid out of the hole, and more golden skin appeared, Harry's mouth went dry. It took him a long moment before he was able to drag his eyes back up to Fionn's face.

The Fae's golden eyes glinted with silent laughter, and after the final button was undone, he raised his right hand to caress Harry's face. "Some people may think we're going fast, with the Courtship happening so soon. But, I love you Harry. Even though we've only known each other a few months, I know that in here." He lightly touched the skin over his own heart.

Harry could feel the prickle of tears in the back of his eyes again. He could _feel_ the sincerity of Fionn's words. And while he was still completely inexperienced when it came to this sort of thing, he did know one thing. What he felt for the Fae, and what he was feeling from Fionn right that second, were too similar for him to not be able to tell what it was. "I love you too Fi."

AN:

I am SO sorry it took so long to get this written and posted! Work is still made of evil things, and we've been getting a lot of bad thunderstorms here as well. Also, I'm not comfortable writing lemons. Therefore you get none, and I will leave to your imagination what happened after the chapter ended. *grins* Review replies are being written now, and will be in the forum soon. The forum link can be found in my profile. Thank you to everyone who is following and commenting on this fic, I never expected it to be anywhere near this popular! 


	25. Truth

Laric had looked entirely too smug when he dropped Fred and George back at Ash's house. The twins had matching claiming studs, in the same spot and with as little to distinguish them as Fred and George themselves did. So essentially, there was still no visual clue as to which twin was which. And Harry was sure that had been the plan. But he didn't have much time to do more than get a glimpse, as they had hurried off and hid in their room. Which was _quite_ unlike them, not even a word had been spoken on their way past.

After half an hour had gone by, and there was still no sign of either twin, Harry finally decided to go see what they were up to. He just hoped he would still look like himself afterwards. He knocked on the door, and heard sounds like people were moving around on the other side. But Fred and George remained silent, the door didn't open either. Getting a little more worried, Harry tried the knob, a little surprised when it actually twisted and the door opened. He saw the twin's faces as they looked at each other, they looked slightly ...well, he'd say _horrified_ if it was anyone else..?

"I thought you locked the door!"

"_Me?!_ You were the last one in! You were supposed to lock it!"

"Uh, guys? Are you two all right?" Harry had moved only a step or two into the room, the door still open behind him.

"We're fine. Just waiting for the tru-mmph!" George clapped a hand across Fred's mouth before Harry was able to hear just _what_ they were waiting on.

"No problems here Harry! At least, no problems if you leave right now." George's grin was a bit forced, and Fred nodded vigorously, George's hand still firmly on his mouth.

Harry took a hasty step backwards, now he was standing in the doorway, but not quite out of the room. As he went to turn, he felt an arm slide around his waist and Fionn rested his chin on Harry's shoulder. Harry rested his left hand on the arm around his waist, lacing their fingers together without conscious thought.

"Ash won't like it if you blow up the bedroom again. She said she'd make you two sleep in the backyard if you did it again." Fionn's voice was amused, but the twins only looked more panicked as they realized there was another person there.

"We're not working on anything! Don't call her in here!"

"Yeah, it's all Laric's fault! He had to go and use a stupid spell Gideon taught him!" Fred clapped a hand across his own mouth this time and looked at George who now had a hand covering his eyes.

"Laric used a spell on you? What exactly does this spell _do?_" Harry couldn't help the laugh as he asked, and slid back into the room. Closing the door behind himself and Fionn, before leaning against it with the Fae tucked into his side.

Fred and George exchanged a look, before their shoulders drooped and they both sighed. "It's a truth spell."

"We have to answer whatever we're asked, truthfully."

"And he didn't say how long it lasted!" Fred looked aggrieved, flopping down onto the foot of the bed.

Harry's shoulders shook as he tried to muffle his snickers. It didn't work all that well. "This is what you get for pulling pranks on your Guide. I _knew_ Laric had something in mind to get you two back, but this is going to be epic."

"But Har-ry... He's so formal and...and _stiff!_ We were just trying to loosen him up a bit." The whiny tone in Fred's voice sounded more appropriate for a toddler.

"Yeah, and when he's not being all old-school and formal-ish, he's quiet and just gives us these _looks._" George chimed in.

"At least you didn't kiss him, if this is his revenge for being drenched, just think what he would have done if either of you had!" Harry's eyes gleamed with mischief.

Fred snorted. "No thank you. I doubt kissing Laric would have been half as fun as kissing you was." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Fred's face drained of color and he slapped both hands over his mouth. If Harry had thought Fred looked horrified _before_, it was nothing to how he looked _now._

It was like they were in a cheesy horror film. Fred turned towards George who had been about to speak, but now was just staring with his mouth open at Fred. Harry turned towards Fionn, but it felt like he was trying to move through a _Petrificus Totalus_ spell. Everything felt like it was in slow-motion. As his eyes finally met Fionn's, he saw the flash of hurt that was just as quickly hidden in the golden depths.

"You _kissed Harry?!_ When did _this_ happen?" George had found his voice first, and it sounded almost as hurt as what Harry had seen on Fionn's face.

"I didn't mean it George! Okay, well I _did_, but it wasn't like that! It was that night after the tour when we first got here. And you had been helping Fionn, so I figured it was my job to help Harry-"

"And _kissing him_ is how you decided to help?!"

"Yes! I mean, no! He was all twisted up about not knowing if he liked guys, and not having anything to compare Fionn's kiss to. So..." Fred squirmed a bit. "I thought if he had another frame of reference, it might help. I mean, you and I both know they're perfect for each other. And it's not like I did it to cheat. I'd _never_ cheat on you." Fred reached out a tentative hand, and when George didn't move, he pulled him down beside him on the bed. "It was totally a one-time thing. Really, never happened again. And it never _will_. Not unless we _all_ decide on this mateship stuff." One side of his mouth quirked up in a half-smile, trying to get George to relax, forgive him, something.

George finally sighed and tilted forward a bit, resting his face in the crook of Fred's neck and shoulder. "Sometimes I seriously think I got all the brains in the womb."

"Hey!"

"How else can you explain your total lack of thought? You could have made things _worse_ between them. Merlin, you still could have!" George suddenly jerked upright and looked towards where Harry and Fionn were still standing frozen beside the bedroom door.

"Fi?" Harry hadn't taken his eyes off Fionn during the entire time the twins had been yelling at each other. The shuttered expression on the Fae's face worried him. Reaching out, he lightly touched Fionn's cheek, who's eyes immediately came back into focus on him.

"You kissed Fred?" Fionn's voice was soft, with no hint of what he was feeling.

"It was more like he kissed _me_, really. I wasn't expecting it. And... it _did_ help. I mean, it was before the brand came off, when I still had no clue what I was supposed to be doing..."

Fionn looked at Harry in silence for a moment, before nodding slightly.

"I think it would have taken a lot longer to realize that I liked guys if he hadn't. But, I would never have hurt you, never kiss anyone while we were Courting on purpose."

Fionn looked past Harry, towards Fred and George for a moment and then back to Harry before finally relaxing a little bit. "I know. It was just, surprising hearing that you had..."

Harry leaned forward and gently kissed Fionn. "Never again. Only you, unless we're Courting someone else. Promise."

"Harry..." George's voice was soft, but curious too.

"Hmmm?"

"Does that mean your Courtship is over? It kind of sounds that way." George was grinning at them now, and had resumed his position in Fred's arms.

Harry flushed a light pink, but nodded as he pulled Fionn closer to himself. "I-yeah. I think so." He looked at Fionn who looked back at him with shining golden eyes. "Guess we'll have to be making our _own_ Healer's appointment before the Festival now."

AN: So, there will most likely be re-visiting of the kissing issue later in the fic. But at least they all know about it now? *laughs*

Also, any ideas you guys have about pranks that you would like to share would be welcome. I have a few more ideas, but I'm not sure how many will actually end up in the fic. And it's always better to have more than needed, yes?

And as always, review responses can be found in the forum. Which is linked on my profile.


	26. Claiming Studs

AN: This chapter has been beta'd by the ever wonderful Nicky Noodle.

Harry's wings twitched slightly with nervousness as he waited for Tristan to appear. He didn't really know what to expect, and he _certainly_ wasn't going to believe the twins' story of a large needle being shoved through his wing. He knew there had to be an easy, non-painful way of getting claiming studs put in. Otherwise no one would be willing to go through with it more than once. He still remembered Ron before the Hogwarts sorting, saying that Fred and George had told him he would have to wrestle a Troll to get sorted. Harry almost snorted, an 11-year-old having to wrestle a Troll in order to be allowed to learn magic? And Ron had fallen for it. He was a little surprised that the thought of Ron didn't hurt as much as he expected it to. But he refused to think about him right now.

Fionn was sitting on the edge of the examination table, a small smile on his face as he watched Harry. You could tell just by looking at the Fae that he was both ecstatic about getting the claiming studs, and still a little surprised that it was really going to happen.

Tristan finally entered the room, carrying a small wooden box with abstract designs carved all over it. He smiled at the two waiting on him and carefully placed the box onto the counter that ran along one side of the room.

"So many people are getting this done before the Festival! It's always a pleasure to see everyone so happy, instead of the usual reasons they make appointments. So, which of you is going first?"

Harry glanced at Fionn and then folded his wings back behind him, willing himself calm. He wanted this, he just hated not knowing what was going to happen. "I will."

"Then I'll need to see Fionn over here a moment." Tristan turned back to the box and lifted off the lid as Fionn hopped down from the examination table and approached him silently. The inside of the box was divided down the middle by a thin wooden partition. On one side were tiny earrings. Each one had a clear, square-shaped setting. On the other side, were larger oval-shaped studs. "Okay, this is the easy part. Put your hand in the side with the larger settings, one of them will feel 'right'. I can't really explain it, it's different for everyone. But once you've found the one that calls to you, pull it out and hold it in the palm of your dominant hand."

Fionn reached out with his left hand and trailed his fingers through the oval-shaped studs. He dug through them carefully, and turned a number of them over, rolling them through his fingers before he finally settled on one. Pulling it out, he cradled it in the palm of his hand and looked at Tristan to see what happened next.

"Good! Now all you have to do is think about your bond. Concentrate on how much Harry means to you, the things that you went through during your Courtship, and focus that on the stud in your hand. The stone will change to reflect your magic and soul as it soaks up the memories you give it. This is why no two claiming studs are ever the same, even if they bear the same colors, or are from identical twins."

Fionn's eyes closed and a tiny frown of concentration appeared on his face. Nothing seemed to happen for long moments, and then after a while, Harry could see the clear setting was changing. As he watched, the claiming stud turned white gold, the exact same shade as the Fae's hair. And small bright golden specs appeared, they seemed to shimmer and move, dancing across the face of the stone. It was beautiful, and matched Fionn perfectly.

Tristan plucked the stud from the palm of Fionn's hand and held it up so Harry could see it better. In the very center, there was a delicate FO engraved in gold. Fionn's initials, though Harry still wasn't exactly sure why initials were needed. It wasn't like he would ever forget that that particular stud was Fionn. Harry was so lost in thought, he hadn't noticed when Tristan pulled out something else from a slot in the lid of the box. But as the Healer approached him, he focused again. It was a needle. A _big_ needle. Harry's eyes went wide, the twins had been telling the _truth_?!

"Don't get upset, you won't feel a thing. I promise! We can't put the claiming studs in magically, as it interferes with the magic in the stud itself. But the needle is spelled so you won't feel anything more than a little bit of pressure. Nothing to worry about. Now take a deep breath and calm down. Then I need you to extend your right wing for me, that's it. Hold it just like that, you can close your eyes if it makes you feel better." Tristan kept up a soft murmur of words, but Harry wasn't listening, he was looking at Fionn and was determined to keep looking at the Fae until it was all over with.

He felt the Healer grasp the top edge of his wing, about halfway down the length, and something settled against the skin that was cold and smooth. He felt what he assumed was the needle, start to push, but Tristan was right. He didn't feel any pain, and then there was a _pop!_ and the pressure was gone. Something else was now being pushed into the hole, and his wing was maneuvered around a bit, and then the Healer was releasing him and standing back with a smile. Harry looked over and saw the claiming stud gleaming from it's new home in the top edge of his wing, and all he could feel was happiness.

"The pain relieving spell will wear off in about an hour, but you shouldn't feel more than a slight soreness. Remember to twist the stud around at least once a day until the hole heals, or it will get stuck to the skin as the wound heals. And keep it clean. If it does more than sting, come right back here so we can check for infection." Tristan waited to be sure Harry was listening. "All right, you saw how it worked, so go pick out one for Fionn."

Harry jumped off the examination table and approached the box. Putting the fingers of his right hand into the smaller side, he dug around wondering what he was supposed to be feeling. They all felt exactly the same...and then he felt it. One of the earrings was hot, much hotter than it should be for just laying there in a wooden box. He pulled it out and looked at it, it looked exactly like all the rest, but he could tell that this was the one.

Holding it in his palm, he closed his eyes and thought about the Fae. From the first time he had seen him, to how much he had come out of his shell. And the look in his eyes today, when the stud was being put into Harry's wing. As he slowly opened his eyes, he was surprised at the change that had taken over the earring. He had expected it, after seeing what happened to his own stud, but it was still amazing to him. Instead of a clear stone, it was now a dark charcoal. The color of dark, dense smoke. It swirled around like a living thing, and glowing from the inside was a red ember of fire. The fire pulsed and sparked as the smoke moved.

Even as Harry stared mesmerized, Tristan was plucking it from his hand and motioning for Fionn to approach. The needle used this time was _much_ smaller. Tristan gently pulled on Fionn's right earlobe, and the hole was quickly made, and just as quickly filled with the claiming stud. It was now official to everyone, Harry and Fionn were a mated pair. None would now dare to take either of them from the other.

Fionn's eyes were shining in happiness, and Harry could feel his own lips curling up into a smile. Had anyone told him before his birthday, that he would be living in another Realm, and for all intents and purposes, _married_ to another guy, who wasn't even the same _species_, he would have sent them straight to St. Mungo's. But he couldn't imagine not having Fionn in his life now, and with all the strange creatures, the Realm was starting to feel like home. More like any home than he had ever had, even Hogwarts.

"Thank you Tristan. Come on Fi, let's go home."


End file.
